


An Unexpected Journey

by ladyxgreywolf



Series: The An Unexpected Journey Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Chapters to be uploaded!, Complete, F/M, Gen, Lots of new characters so don't be afraid to ask questions, Script based, season 3b
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 73,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3241058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyxgreywolf/pseuds/ladyxgreywolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Waking up on the ground at the edge of a town with a pounding headache and a wicked creature attacking you is not ideal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned in the tags; there are a lot of new characters. So don't be afraid to ask if you're confused about one or all of them. Story follows the script from season 3B of Once Upon a Time - at least most of the time.

     Her head was spinning and she feared that if she opened her eyes she might throw up. She could already feel the bile rising in her throat and struggled to keep it down. Close to where she was laying she heard a grunt, telling her that wherever she was she was not alone.

     “Hey!” a female voice suddenly shouted, piercing the air and causing her to grimace.

     “Stop shouting”, a familiar voice nearby muttered.

     “Filipi?” she asked, daring to open one of her eyes somewhat. The blonde grunted and rose up on her elbows.

     “Good to see you, Rachel”, she said.

     “You too.”

     “Get away from there!” the female voice shouted, causing the two girls to look up. A group of ragtag people were standing further down the road, accompanied by a truck and a yellow bug.

     “If you would just stop shouting, the headache might go away enough for us to stand up without fainting”, a new voice said. Rachel looked to her left and smiled slightly at the gangly boy.

     “You too, Toby?” she said and rolled onto her stomach, grimacing as she tried to get the world to remain still for longer than a few seconds.

     “It would seem so”, he answered. “What exactly happened?”

     “No idea”, Filipi answered and got up on her knees, “but if the three of us are here I would not be surprised if...”

     A screech caused the three of them to look up and then, without further thought about potentially throwing up or fainting, scrambled to their feet as they tried to get away from the large, winged creature that suddenly swooped down on them. The woman who had told them to get away from where they had been laying pulled out a gun and fired at it, causing it to screech again and fly off just as the trio reached the rest of the group.

     “What the hell was that?” Rachel gasped, staring at the quickly vanishing black shape.

     “It was the same thing that took Little John”, a man close by said, his accent British. All three newcomers turned their heads towards him.

     “I’m sorry, what?” Filipi said. “Little John?”

     “Yes”, the man answered, his brow slightly furrowed and his tone clipped. “Why would that be strange to you?”

     “Because they’re not fairytale characters”, the woman with the gun answered.

     “Of course we’re not fairytale characters; that would be ridiculous”, Toby said. The rest of the group glanced at one another.

     “Maybe not completely ridiculous”, Rachel said and straightened up, grimacing slightly at the constant throbbing in her head. “That man over there has a hook for a hand.”


	2. Green Sparkles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _One Year Prior_  
>  Orlando, Florida
> 
> A visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter goes very, very wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _(Yes, there are flashback chapters, and this is the first of those)_

     She craned her neck and tried to see above the heads of the thousands of people walking through the terminal. Well, maybe there were not thousands of them, but it certainly felt like it. They should be here any minute now. She had butterflies chasing each other inside her entire body; it was certainly not every day you got to meet people that you had only talked to online, sitting on opposite sides of the planet.

     She glanced up at the giant board displaying the arriving flights. The one she was waiting for, one from Atlanta, had landed fifteen minutes ago. Logically they should not be out yet, especially not considering their jetlag, but still; they were here. Any minute now they would walk out through those doors and meet up.

     Her phone chimed and she picked it up, answering the call.

     “They’re not here yet.”

     “Damn it!” came Jade’s voice.

     “They’ve landed and are probably collecting their bags and such. Are the others awake yet?”

     “Rachel’s up; her bloody alarm started chiming half an hour ago.”

     “She did warn you about that last night.”

     “Well, I thought she would let herself sleep a bit longer”, Jade groaned. “Is it because of that she’s a teacher? Because that....”

     “What was that about being a teacher, Jade?” came a voice in the background, causing Jade to scream. The girl waiting at the terminal covered the phone so that the whole terminal would not hear it.

     “Have they arrived, Catriona?” Rachel asked, taking the phone from a now cursing Jade.

     “They’ve landed, but they’re not out yet”, Catriona answered.

     “Give us a call when you’ve met. I’m going to try to wake Miranda and Fili.”

     “Good luck with that!”

     “I think I’m going to need it”, Rachel sighed before she hung up.

     A few minutes later the doors letting out passengers with their bags swung open once more and Catriona felt a huge smile spread on her face when she spotted the group appearing there. There were six of them, four guys and two girls, and despite their tired faces they looked happy and smiled just as widely when they saw Catriona making her way towards them. The shouts of happiness and the laughter that erupted when they embraced one another caused more than one fellow passenger to stare at them.

     “I can’t believe it!” Tessa said. “I can’t believe it! God, I’m so tired, but I can’t believe it!”

     “How do you think I feel?” Catriona asked. “You were these people from the other side of the world and now you’re suddenly standing right here! It’s incredible!”

     After sharing another group-hug they crammed themselves and their bags inside a rented minivan, which in turn brought them to the hostel where the rest of the group was waiting for them. When they entered the reception the newly arrived members were therefore greeted with joyful shouts and another group-hug. Out of the eighteen who had been invited fourteen had managed to make the trip; people who had met on the internet through a common interest and had decided to make this journey together, if money would allow them to. Out of the ones gathered Indira from India and Rachel from Sweden were the oldest; twenty-six years old. Then there was Filipi, three years younger, from Finland. Next came Toby from Australia, the superbly skinny and tall know-it-all of the group, and from another region of the same country came Wolfgang, the sarcastic one. Those two were a year younger than Filipi, as was Miranda from the UK. The quartet yet another year younger consisted of Chris and Tessa from Australia, and Maryse and Arianne from Canada. Next came Rowan and Clarissa – two more Australians (they did make up half of the group that had made the trip). Catriona was second youngest; the only one younger than her was Jade and both of them originated from the US, though from very different parts of this big nation. All in all the age difference between Indira and Jade was almost exactly eight years.

     “Now this is an adventure!” Chris said, grinning like a madman.

* * *

The group had gotten together to visit the _Wizarding World of Harry Potter_ in Orlando, Florida. As people were tired after their flights it had been decided early on that they would spend the first day at the hostel, or close to it, just taking it easy and watching movies. People were dropping off to sleep one by one, spread out around the room and resting on top of one another. In a way it was like they had met before, like they had known each other since the beginning of time and had no personal barriers between one another. In reality some of them had not known of the others’ existence until five years prior when Rachel, Maryse, Wolfgang, Jade, Filipi and Arianne joined the group after winning an admin contest for a Facebook fanpage. Over the course of the years they had grown incredibly close, sharing more stories with one another than with people they knew in real life. There was something about the group that felt safe, that provided a supporting shoulder whenever life got tough.

     Thanks to this arrangement, however, they found themselves waking up to Rachel’s phone alarm at half past six the following morning, still lying on top of one another in a now very warm room.

     “Damn it, Rachel!” Jade grunted.

     “Well, if we want to make it to the Hogwarts Express on time we should probably get going”, Rachel responded, though yawned as well. This statement did wake everyone up, however, as they had previously decided that, in true _Harry Potter_ -fashion, they would make sure to catch the Hogwarts Express at precisely eleven o’clock on September 1st and to do that they needed to be at the theme park at a good time.

     “We’ve got two bathrooms to use; make a line, people!” Clarissa called, tearing out stuff that she would be needing from her bag, falling down from the bed onto the floor in the process.

     With fourteen people waiting to use the shower it soon became obvious that they needed to eat while on the road. Those that were done first were therefore charged with the task of picking up various breakfast items from the diner in the lobby that they would then stuff into the two available minivans, enabling the ones forced to wait for their time in the shower to eat later.

     A little later than they had planned they were off. In both vans the excitement seemed so physical that you could actually reach out a hand and grab it if you wanted to. Tessa nibbled on some crackers but other than that there was an eerie silence in the cars as they approached their goal.

     “Somebody please pinch me”, Rachel said as they parked the cars and stepped outside. “We’re really here?”

     “Yep”, Rowan responded.

     Once the initial shock had subsided they made their way in through the gates to the park, squealing every time they came upon something they recognized from the story (which basically meant that there were constant squeals erupting from the group).

     “Should we do Ollivander’s here or in Hogsmeade?” Miranda asked while taking another bite of her ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor.

     “We have time right now before we have to go to King’s Cross”, Toby responded, glancing at his watch to confirm his suspicions.

     “I’m surprised there is no line outside”, Filipi said as they walked over to the famous wand shop. “I mean, it’s known to be one of the most popular attractions, with the wand-choosing ceremony and all of that. It’s known to have a really long line.”

     “Maybe we just got here at a good time”, Wolfgang suggested as they stepped inside the dark shop, finding it deserted.

     “Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?” Arianne asked.

     “Good morning.”

     The voice caused them all to jump and turn around, standing face to face with an old man with bushy white hair and large pale, silvery eyes. He truly looked just like how Mr Ollivander was described in the books.

     “Ah, good morning”, he said in a distinctly British accent. “I did think that you all would wander in here someday soon.”

     “I’m sorry, what?” Jade said, expressing the confusion they all felt. The man smiled at them before he moved back to the shelves.

     “Let me see, let me see”, he said. “Ah, yes. This one should do well for you, miss Catriona.”

     “How does he know my name?” Catriona whispered to the others.

     “This is beyond weird”, Indira said. “Something’s off about all of this.”

     “Christopher, holly, am I right?” the man called from the shelves.

     “Holly what?” Chris answered.

     “Your wand should be made of holly”, the man responded, climbing down from the ladder he had been standing on.

     “Your Pottermore-wand is made of holly”, Rachel hissed. A few years before she had made a list of everyone’s wands on the mentioned website and was, somehow, able to remember them all.

     “Sir, how do you know who we are?” Wolfgang asked. The man walked back to the counter, his arms filled with boxes.

     “Don’t everyone, Mr Wolfgang?” he answered. “Now, I believe these are exactly what you will be needing.”

     “For what?” Maryse asked. The man did not respond; instead he opened the boxes one at a time and handed out the wands. When everyone was holding one he stepped back.

     “There you are”, he said. “Flick them, try them out.”

     The members of the group shared a few glances before they, as one, raised their wands and flicked them in the air. Immediately the floor in front of them opened up into a swirling, green vortex.

     “Good luck!” the old man called, but when they looked up at where he had been standing he was gone. The vortex grew stronger, chewing away the floorboards beneath their feet.

     “We have to get out of here!” Toby shouted over the increasing wind caused by the vortex.

     “We can’t!” Tessa yelled back. “The door’s gone!”

     The floorboard beneath Miranda’s right foot was suddenly chewed to pieces and pulled her into the vortex.

     “Miranda!” Indira called, grabbing the British girl’s hand as she fell down.

     “Get them up!” Rowan shouted as also Indira was being pulled closer to the green swirl. Before anyone could act, however, more floorboards were swallowed and, with them, more people were pulled down.

     “We can’t fight it!” Rachel shouted. “Whatever this is we have to let it swallow us!”

     “But what’s going to happen to us, then?” Chris shouted back, holding onto Tessa for dear life.

     “I don’t know!” Rachel responded. “Just hold on to one another and we’ll be fine! I promise!”

     With that she let go of the wooden pillar she had held on to and, while holding onto Filipi’s hand, fell screaming into the vortex. Seeing their friends fall was all it took for the others to follow and soon they were all being sent spinning in the green light, not knowing where they could possibly end up but hoping that wherever that might be they would end up together.


	3. Red Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> A reunion and the realization that more time has passed than they'd like.

The small town they had landed in was, according to their rescuers, called Storybrooke, located in Maine in the northeast corner of the US. It also seemed to be inhabited by fairytale characters brought away from their realm by a curse – the second one they had experienced. To be honest it was a very confusing scenario made even more confusing by them all experiencing throbbing, spinning heads. Their female rescuer, Emma Swan, had driven them to a place called _Granny’s Bed and Breakfast_ (run by the grandmother from _Little Red Riding Hood_ ) where she ordered them to stay until she had time to talk to them; apparently she was the town’s unofficial sheriff (the official post was held by one of the men they had previously met, David Nolan).

     To their surprise the trio were surprised to find familiar faces waiting for them at the B&B.

     “You guys are here too?” Jade said, jumping up from the chair she had been sitting in.

     “It would seem so”, Toby responded, “though I’m still not sure if this is actually happening or if it’s caused by a severe trauma that one of us is experiencing.”

     “We need to find somewhere to talk this out”, Miranda said. “Maybe we can find an explanation to all of this.”

     Steps sounded on the staircase and when they looked up they spotted Chris and Tessa.

     “God, it’s good to see you all!” Tessa exclaimed and embraced the newcomers.

     “How many of us are actually here?” Rachel asked, looking around at the now assembled group of seven.

     “Tessa and I landed not far from this place, so Granny took us in and gave us a room upstairs”, Chris answered. “Wolf and Indira are also here.”

     “So that’s nine”, Filipi said. “Five are missing if only those that met up in Orlando were somehow brought here.”

     “Hopefully, if they’re in this town as well, someone will bring them here”, Miranda said.

     “Meanwhile we need to go through what we know of what is going on”, Rachel said. “Let’s head up to your room.”

     She nodded at Chris and Tessa, who quickly led them up the stairs and inside a small room containing a bed, a desk with a chair and a chest of drawers. They were then greeted by Wolfgang and Indira. After a number of hugs they lay or sat down wherever they could, just like they had done at the hostel back in Orlando, leaning onto one another for support.

     “Alright, so what do we know?” Tessa asked.

     “We’re in a town called Storybrooke and it is inhabited by fairytale characters brought here through a curse”, Filipi answered.

     “Were we as well?” Jade asked.

     “I don’t think so”, Wolfgang answered. “I mean, we’re not fairytale characters. We’re regular people.”

     “Who just happened to run into a very real Mr Ollivander”, Miranda said.

     “With working wands”, Chris filled in. “Does anyone still have theirs?”

     They all checked their pockets but found them empty.

     “I guess we dropped them when we fell through the vortex”, Toby said. “It would make sense; I don’t remember having time to put it away anywhere before we fell into it.”

     “I think we ought to take this into consideration as well”, Rachel said and pulled down a calendar from the wall. She placed it on the bed and pointed at the four digits representing the current year.

     “2014?” Indira said with a frown. “That’s not possible.”

     “Just like a swirling green vortex was not possible”, Chris said. “Along with real fairytale characters.”

     “The vortex must have brought us back in time”, Wolfgang said.

     “That still does not explain why we’re in this town, or why this is happening at all”, Toby pointed out. “I feel as if we are missing something.”

     “Something like this?” Jade asked and pulled up her left sleeve. Trailing down her bicep was a jagged, red scar.

     “When did you get that?” Miranda asked.

     “I don’t know; I just felt super-stiff and thought it was because of the vortex, but then I went into the bathroom and checked and, well, there it was.”

     “It’s not old”, Indira said. “The injury was probably sustained not more than three months ago.”

     “But I don’t remember getting it”, Jade argued. “I have never had a scar there before, especially not one looking like this.”

     “Has anyone else got anything?” Rachel asked. “Stiffness, strange injuries, pain?”

     They helped each other check and soon found that they all had new scars to display. Among the more serious ones was a burn-mark stretching along the side of Tessa’s left leg, which Indira and Toby suspected could not be more than a month old, a bruise not older than a couple of days covering most of Wolfgang’s lower right arm, and a cut-like scar running diagonally across Rachel’s back.

     “I’m starting to think that maybe we were affected by the curse”, Miranda said, her voice low. The others only nodded in agreement.

     “Judging by these injuries we’ve had our minds wiped, but how much have we forgotten?” Filipi asked. “Jade’s injury is about three months old, Rachel’s scar might be older...”

     Chris responded by opening the door to the room and walking out into the corridor.

     “Emma Swan told us to stay here”, Rachel protested.

     “No, she told you three to stay here”, Chris answered. “The rest of us were not ordered to do anything and I’m going to try figuring out what is going on.”

     “But the others are already on the case”, Miranda said.

     “And there’s the flying monsters to be aware of”, Filipi said. “They’ve already kidnapped some of the real residents.”

     “Hey, I agree with Chris”, Wolfgang said and walked after the other boy. “We are not fairytale characters but have somehow been affected by whatever this curse has done; we have to figure out who’s responsible and how to get back.”

     “Is it just going to be us or are you all coming along as well?” Chris filled in. The other seven looked around at one another and, eventually, Jade groaned.

     “Fine, I’m coming as well.”

     “Knew I could count on you, Jade”, Wolfgang said with a grin. “Anyone else?”

     “If we’re going we should split up, try to find clues wherever we can”, Rachel said. “There’s nine of us, after all, so we should be able to cover things quite quickly. The town did not seem too big.”

     “Who said we were all coming?” Toby asked.

     “Come on, Toby”, Filipi sighed. “Aren’t you dying to find out what is actually going on?”

     “Actually this reminds me of Rachel’s story when we all ventured out into the Forbidden Forest”, Toby pointed out.

     “That was a story”, Rachel responded.

     “Yes, and this town is inhabited by fairytale characters!”

     “I’m not sure I’m up for it, either”, Miranda said. “I would rather stay here, in case the Emma comes back.”

     “Me too”, Tessa agreed.

     “Indira, are you coming?” Chris asked. The Indian girl hesitated.

     “Fine”, she eventually sighed. “What’s the plan?”

     “We split up in two groups”, Wolfgang responded. “One heads in one direction down on the street and one in the other. We’ll meet up here again in three hours and go through what we have.”

     “Sounds good”, Rachel said. “I think Indira and I should be in separate groups; we’re the oldest ones.”

     “So you’re baby-sitting us?” Jade asked as they headed down the stairs.

     “No, not like that”, Rachel quickly responded. “It’s just that... well, it seemed like a good idea.”

     “Well, then we should have one guy in each group as well”, Chris said. “Just to be on the safe side.”

     “So who’s with who?” Filipi asked.

     “Wolf’s with me”, Indira answered.

     “Alright, may I ask why?” Wolfgang questioned.

     “Gut feeling. That leaves Chris with Rachel.”

     They exited through the front door and walked down the stone-covered path leading from the patio to the road itself. The sun had begun to sink behind the trees and no one doubted that it would be dark within an hour.

     “Want to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who’s going with who out of the two of us?” Jade asked, looking at Filipi.

     “Sure. Which group should the winner belong to?”

     “Indira and Wolf”, Jade answered. “Best of three?”

     Filipi nodded and the two stopped to face one another. Jade won the first round by using a scissor to defeat Filipi’s paper. However, after that Filipi managed to win two in a row by first sticking to paper to capture Jade’s stone and then switching to scissors, cutting Jade’s paper.

     “You’re with us, Jade”, Chris said with a grin.

     “Three hours from now, then”, Rachel said, looking at Wolfgang. The boy nodded.

     “Three hours. Good luck!"


	4. Black Fur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief discussion with a waitress at a diner and an incident at the town hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **(if there's no note regarding the time setting in the summary the chapter is set in the same time as the previous one)**

“Do you think they’ll find anything?” Miranda asked.

     “We just have to hope they do”, Toby answered, examining the scar he had discovered on his lower calf. It was small and made him think it was a wound caused by something being thrown or shot at him, but why or how he had received it in the first place was as unknown as with everyone else’s injuries.

     “This is quite a different adventure from the one we’d expected”, Tessa sighed and leaned back against the bed. “We were expecting to have a meet-up, head to the _Wizarding World of Harry Potter_ , be all nostalgic and crazy and geeky and then it would be back home again.”

     Miranda smiled sadly in agreement.

     “How old are we now, by the way?” Toby asked. “Last I remember it was 2017 and I was twenty-two years old, then we’re back here and it’s 2014 so I guess that’d make me nineteen, but now we find out that we have lost several months, maybe even a year or more...”

     “No, stop, that’s all too confusing”, Tessa groaned.

     “We need something to do while we wait for the others”, Miranda decided and rose from the chair. “I’ll head across the street to the diner me and Jade spotted when we got here while you two come up with a game of some kind that we can play. Alright?”

     “Fine, just bring back something good to eat”, Tessa said.

     “I’ll bring what I can find”, Miranda answered before she hurried downstairs. Before exiting the house she made sure that she indeed had her wallet on. Once she had confirmed this she wrapped her cardigan tighter around her and headed outside, the chill of Maine hitting her head on. If the calendar on the wall had been turned to the right month that meant it was March here right now and she would not be surprised if the temperature was down beneath 0 degrees Celcius. The fact that she was wearing a cardigan was another clue to them actually not having been transported directly from Orlando to here as she did not remember wearing one when visiting the _Wizarding World of Harry Potter_.

     The street was empty of cars and made for an easy crossing. Upon entering the diner she found it filled with people. No one looked at her as if she was different, however; it would seem they were a bit disoriented as well, and considering the vast amount of fairytales that existed it would be impossible for them to recognize everyone.

     “Can I help you?” a young woman with brown hair and red highlights asked from behind the counter.

     “Yes, I’d like some food to bring with me”, Miranda answered.

     “Just random food or something a bit more specific?” the woman asked with a smile. Miranda blushed.

     “Well, what would you recommend?”

     “How many are you?” the woman asked.

     “Three”, Miranda answered. “Well, we’re expecting six more to turn up, so make it nine.”

     “Wow, that’s quite a company”, the woman said with a new smile. “I can make a set of sandwiches for you to bring along, different kinds, of course.”

     “Yes, that’d be great.”

     The woman immediately set to work, chopping vegetables and preparing slices of meat. While waiting Miranda looked around the diner. In the back of her mind she knew it was a futile attempt to possibly jog her memory, but no matter how hard she looked she could not find anything familiar.

     “There, all done”, the woman said, drawing her attention once more.

     “Thank you so much”, Miranda said. “How much...”

     “It’s on the house”, the woman answered. “Granny and I have agreed not to charge customers until we figure out what’s going on. I’m Ruby, by the way.”

     “Miranda.”

     Ruby smiled and was about to say something else when the door to the diner opened and a stout man with a black and grey beard entered.

     “Big news, everybody!” he shouted. Everyone immediately turned towards him, all ears. Miranda knew better than to act like she did not understand what was going on and thus did the same.

     “Emma found Regina”, the man continued. “She was holed up in her office working on a potion.”

     “What kind of potion?” a man with glasses and a scarf asked, rising from a chair by the bar.

     “Was she going to hurt us?” another man asked.

     “A memory potion”, the man by the door answered, walking further inside the diner. “Regina said she’s going to use it to prove that she didn’t cast the curse.”

     “Like I’d drink anything she handed me”, an old woman said, her voice dripping with hatred.

     “Well, somebody will!” the man shouted. “And if they remember, we’ll know exactly who did this to us.”

     With those words the diner was suddenly bustling with activity and when Miranda turned back towards Ruby she found her gone, off talking to the old woman. The door chimed again and Miranda turned, watching as a woman with red hair walked down to the road in a hurry. She frowned; why would somebody leave the diner in such a hurry right now? A shiver passed down her spine and she shrugged, before she grabbed the paper bag with the sandwiches, managed to wave goodbye to Ruby and then head back out and across the street.

* * *

“Tell me again why we should be looking for things inside a hospital?” Jade asked.

     “Well, it’s a long shot, but our journey here wasn’t exactly pleasurable”, Rachel answered as she walked first down the corridor. “You told me you landed together with Miranda, and Chris, Tessa, Wolf and Indira also landed together, as did me, Filipi and Toby. Logically that means the others did not end up alone, but what if one of them was injured when landing?”

     “Then the other one would bring them here”, Chris filled in. He had hardly finished speaking when the doors behind them burst open and a group of nurses came rushing through the corridor. Rolling between them was a bier on wheels with an injured man.

     “Out of the way!” one of them shouted, causing the trio to jump aside.

     “What are you doing here?” a man walking behind the nurses asked as he spotted them. “I thought Emma told you to stay at Granny’s.”

     “Well, we would have if we didn’t realize something had happened to us as well”, Rachel responded, falling into steps next to the man. “Long story short we seem to have been transported through time and have also managed to lose our memories of what happened during the last three months, at least.”

     “Wait, who’s this?” Chris asked.

     “I’m David”, the man answered.

     “Doesn’t tell us much”, Jade said. “Who’s the injured guy?”

     “Little John”, David responded. Chris’ mouth fell open.

     “Seriously? You’ve got Robin Hood as well?”

     “He would be the guy up there”, another man said. He was dressed differently than the others, more like someone stepping right out of a fairytale. The fact that he also had a hook for a hand, which he now used to point at the man walking closest to the bier, sort of gave away who he might be.

     “So, Captain Hook and Robin Hood in the same room”, Jade said. “Who would have thought?”

     “What did this to him?” a man in a long white coat, obviously a doctor, asked.

     “We don’t know”, David answered. They had now entered a patient ward and the bier was placed in the centre, allowing the nurses to stand around the wounded man. He was shaking violently.

     “He’s going into shock!” one of the nurses shouted.

     “We need to sedate him”, the doctor ordered. Little John suddenly gave a scream and a long, black tail whipped out from beneath him. Everyone in the room seemed to inhale sharply in shock. The next moment the tail whipped away the needle meant to sedate him, sending the doctor stumbling backwards in the process.

     “John!” the man pointed out as Robin Hood shouted. David moved forward, grabbing Little John’s shoulders in an attempt to hold him down.

     “Look out!” Rachel suddenly shouted, pushing him aside as something else appeared, striking against the man. Instead it now sent her and a nearby nurse crashing into a shelf filled with medicines.

     “Rachel!” Chris and Jade shouted as one, moving to help their friend but instead being sent in the opposite direction by something black.

     “Bloody hell!” Captain Hook cried out, having also been flung to the floor. He now quickly moved Robin out of harm’s way as the tail aimed their way once more.

     “John!” Robin called again, desperately hoping he could still reach his friend. David looked around and saw Rachel sitting up, grimacing slightly. She did not seem to be severely hurt, or at least she was not unconscious. Then he heard the strangest chatter and turned around, noticing that everyone else in the room did the same.

     On the bier there was no sign of Little John. Instead a creature with black and silvery fur, a long, black tail and huge, black wings rose on it. As it straightened out they could all see that it was a monkey.

     “Okay, I didn’t see that coming”, David admitted as he slowly got to his feet. The monkey then screamed at them, a scream mostly resembling the sound of someone dragging their fingernails across a blackboard and thus causing them all to shrink back and, at least partially, cover their ears. It flapped its wings and pushed the bier away, levitating in front of them for a few more moments before it turned and soared through the room, crashing through the window at the far end and disappearing in the darkness that had now fallen over the town.

     “What the hell was that thing?” David asked.

     “Don’t look at me”, the doctor said. “I’m a doctor, not a vet.”

     “Am I the only one who saw a monkey with wings?” Chris asked.

     “No, definitely not”, Rachel said and grimaced as she rose. She touched the back of her head and her hand came back covered in blood. This caused one of the nurses to quickly force her to sit down on a nearby bed so that they could take a look at it.

     “How did he even... become like that?” Jade asked. “He just... he was transformed. Bones and flesh and hair and clothes and... everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to post all chapters ASAP but I'll also use this opportunity to update the Wikia linked to this story. But yes; all the chapters are already written and posted over at FanFiction.Net and I'm currently working on the second story in the trilogy.


	5. Out of the Grey Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _One Year Prior_  
>  Outside the Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
> 
> In which a group of newly returned fairytale characters meet a group of utterly confused Potterheads.

This was the second time they had been attacked by a flying monkey since their return to the Enchanted Forest. At least the fact that they had now been able to identify the creature as a flying monkey meant they knew who they were up against; the Wicked Witch from Oz (although Grumpy had been quick to point out that they did not know if it was East or West they were facing). Most likely she was the one currently holed up in the Dark Palace with a protection spell keeping the former residents of Storybrooke out. To say that David felt uneasy about their new predicament would be an understatement. The fact that Regina also claimed that she had never met the Witch or in any way done something that could possibly cause her to want revenge did not exactly make him feel calmer.

     A rumbling sound made them all look up at the sky once more, half-expecting another creature to swoop down towards them. What they spotted instead was nothing like that; a swirling, green vortex that swept down like a tornado towards the ground. Except for the strong winds and trembling ground that it created David was also sure he felt several thuds, as if the vortex dropped something off in front of them.

     “Stand ready!” he ordered, raising his sword in front of him. Slowly the vortex withdrew from the ground and disappeared up in the sky as if it had never been there. The only difference was that it had left something behind; on the ground in front of them lay eight people, grunting and struggling to get up.

     “Remind me to not ever jump into one of those things again”, a boy, or a young man, with black hair said as he rolled over onto his back.

     “I think I’m going to throw up”, a ginger girl managed to say. A boy close to her, also he a ginger, lifted his head and blinked a few times in order to regain focus. When he noticed the group further down the road he frowned.

     “Er, guys? You might want to see this.”

     “I’m only opening my eyes if you can get the world to stop spinning”, a blonde girl responded.

     “No, seriously; you have to look”, the ginger boy said. Slowly several of the others rolled over and looked up, also they blinking several times before managing to focus.

     “Who are you and who sent you?” David demanded to know.

     “Were we just transported back in time?” a girl with strawberry-blonde hair asked, rising to her elbows.

     “It almost seems like it, doesn’t it?” the dark-haired boy who had spoken first responded. David stepped closer and pointed his sword at the group.

     “Answer the question.”

     “Well, I’m Chris”, the ginger boy said, “and this is Tessa, Maryse, Rowan, Clarissa, Catriona, Indira and Miranda.”

     “Wait, there are only eight of us here?” a dark-haired woman, Indira, said, looking around. “What about the others?”

     “Others?” David heard Snow White ask behind him. “What others?”

     “Our friends who fell into that vortex with us”, Catriona answered. “They should also be here, right?”

     “Am I the only one who finds this story very confusing?” Grumpy asked.

     “There were fourteen of us”, Miranda explained. “Six of our friends are missing.”

     “That still does not explain how you got here”, David said.

     “If we could explain it then we would”, Clarissa, the blonde girl, responded.

     “Am I the only one who has noticed the fact that they are dressed in a completely different way than we are?” Regina suddenly said, sounding vastly uninterested. Everyone turned to look at her before turning back towards the newcomers and now they, indeed, noticed that the eight young humans in front of them wore clothes that did not belong in the Enchanted Forest.

     “Earth-clothes”, Snow breathed.

     “I’m sorry, did you say Earth-clothes?” Tessa, the ginger girl, asked.

     “How could they have come from Earth?” David asked, looking at Regina. “I thought you said all of the portals there have been shut.”

     “That was what I believed”, the dark-haired Queen answered.

     “So we’re not on Earth?” Maryse, the girl with strawberry-blonde hair, asked, sitting up.

     “No”, David said and lowered his sword. “You are in the Enchanted Forest.”

     The group stared at him before they all started laughing.

     “And that makes you, what, Prince Charming?” Rowan asked.

     “Actually yes.”

     The laughter died out as quickly as it had started, replaced by stunned stares.

     “You’re kidding”, Clarissa said. David stepped aside slightly.

     “Allow me to introduce my wife, Snow White, the Seven Dwarves, Belle, Neal, Granny, Red Riding Hood, the Merry Men, Robin Hood, and Regina, the former Evil Queen.”

     “Okay, that’s... really not what I was expecting to happen when I woke up this morning”, Indira said, slowly rising.

     “Until you are reunited with your friends and find a way back home you are welcome to stay with us”, David continued. “Meanwhile we others stick to our original plan; arm up, then attack. Assuming you can get the shield down.”

     He looked at Regina who gave him an icy glare.

     “You don’t have to worry about me”, she responded and took a step forward, aiming to leave.

     “I’m coming with you”, Snow said, readying her bow once more.

     “No”, Regina interrupted. “This is a one woman job.”

     “What?” Snow said. “Against the Wicked Witch?”

     “Sorry, the what-now?” Clarissa asked, expressing the confusion she and her friends probably all felt. Snow decided to ignore them for now.

     “Regina, she has flying monkeys and who knows what else!”

     “I don’t care if the Lollipop guild is protecting her”, Regina said, her voice sharp and her dark gaze piercing. “I can lower that shield on my own.”

     David looked at Snow and saw something in his wife’s expression that he could best describe as realization. However, what it was that she had realized he did not know.

     “Then we’ll be waiting for you on the other side”, Snow eventually said, managing a smile. Regina held her gaze a short while longer before she turned and headed off down another path. The group of newcomers looked after her in sheer surprise before turning back towards the fairytale characters.

     “The Wicked Witch?” Maryse asked. “As in the one from Oz?”

     “It would seem that she has taken over our home in our absence”, David said. “What her reason might be is unknown.”

     “Why do I get the feeling that your stories are not exactly the ones we grew up hearing?” Catriona asked.

     “They probably aren’t”, Belle responded. “It’s a long story, though.”

     “Is there anything else we have to do besides hearing that story?” Miranda asked.

     “We need to find somewhere with a good view of the Dark Palace so that we know when Regina has lowered the shield”, David said and sheathed his sword. “Robin?”

     He looked around, but to his surprise he found that the outlaw had disappeared, leaving his young son, Roland, in the arms of Little John.

     “Where did he go?” one of the dwarves asked. None of the Merry Men answered; apparently they were too loyal to their leader to reveal wherever he had gone off to.

     “He’s not going to cause trouble, Charming”, Snow said, giving him a slight hint of a smile. “One of his men might know a good location.”

     “There’s an old campsite not far from here that might suffice”, Little John eventually answered. “It is well protected but also has good look-out locations.”

     “Good”, David said. “Let’s get moving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably warn you that not all flashback chapters will be chronological - I wrote this as the episodes came out and the flashbacks shown in those are not chronological, so I had to go with that. But I'll let you know when that happens!


	6. Yellow Town Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
>  
> 
> _Someone's messing about inside the town hall._

Indira shivered and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. So far they had not done much more than walk down the main street of the small town, hoping they would find something, or someone, that could provide them with a clue or two. The shrieking sound they had heard from the other end of the town had, however, been enough to cause them to turn and walk back. Indira crossed her fingers in hope that the shrieking had not in any way been a sign of trouble aiming for their friends.

     “We really need some sort of history-lesson regarding this town”, Filipi muttered. “It feels creepy.”

     “You don’t say?” Wolfgang responded. Indira rolled her eyes at him.

     “Fili’s right”, she said. “We seriously don’t know anything about this place other than that it’s inhabited by fairytale characters; heroes as well as villains, and if our journey here is anything to go by we could probably assume that magic is a real thing here.”

     “Too bad we don’t have our wands”, Wolfgang said.

     “You seriously think they would have worked?” Filipi asked. Wolfgang shrugged.

     “For all we know we actually met the real Ollivander who gave us real wands that then caused the vortex to appear when we all waved them around.”

     “When did you get so smart?” Filipi questioned. Wolfgang looked offended.

     “Hey, just because I’m not a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw it does not mean I’m not smart.”

     “Guys!” Indira hissed and knelt down behind a parked car. The other two quickly followed suit.

     “What?” Wolfgang asked. “What did you see?”

     Indira peered over the hood, studying the large, yellow house on the opposite side of the street.

     “Someone’s moving around inside that building”, she said. Filipi and Wolfgang slowly lifted their heads, joining her by the hood.

     “So what?” Wolfgang asked, his voice a mere whisper. “It’s a house; people live there and move around there.”

     “If you don’t think there’s anything wrong why are you whispering?” Indira asked, glaring at him. He paused.

     “Alright, go ahead with the deduction, Auror Singh”, he said, referring to the character she had created for an old _Harry Potter_ -fanfiction written by Rachel. The nickname caused her to roll her eyes at him.

     “Look”, Filipi said, drawing their attention. Across the street two women were stepping out of a yellow bug, hurriedly walking to the house while making as little sound as possible.

     “The blonde one’s the Sheriff”, Filipi continued. “I knew I recognized the car.”

     “Something’s definitely wrong, then”, Indira said and watched as the two women walked in through the door. “Come on.”

     “You want us to go in after them?” Filipi asked, frowning.

     “Yes”, Indira said and rose. Wolfgang’s face widened into a grin.

     “There’s the Gryffindor in you”, he said and rose as well.

     “I thought you were the responsible one”, Filipi said, rising with a smile as well.

     “Really? You’re in for a surprise, then.”

     The trio moved across the road and up the stairs to the house, finding the door unlocked. Once inside they found rows of offices and conference rooms; apparently the house was not exactly someone’s living quarters.

     The shadow they had seen moving inside one of the rooms had been on the second floor and thus they started to move up the stairs, trying their best to move silent when stepping on the stone. The second floor showed off another corridor of offices. One of the doors was open and from inside they could hear voices.

     “I sealed the room with a blood lock”, a female voice said. “It can keep you out or it can keep you in.”

     Wolfgang met Indira’s gaze and mouthed “blood lock” with a surprised expression. She decided not to respond with anything but a shrug; she might not know the exact definition of such magic, but she guessed it had something to do with DNA. Most likely it limited the amount of people that could remove it to those that shared the same genes.

     “I know what I’m doing”, the voice continued, sounding confident. The next moment they heard another door open up and they took the chance, moving up to the already open door. On its glass window it said, with golden letters, _Town of Storybrooke; Mayor’s Office_. It led to a small room with a secretary’s desk and, behind the desk, was another open door with the word _Mayor_.

     “Don’t move!” came another female voice from inside the second room.

     “There’s nowhere for you to go”, the first voice filled in, but had hardly finished speaking when a whooshing sound interrupted her. When it waned the two women they had been following gasped.

     “I thought you said he couldn’t do that”, the Sheriff said, looking at her companion.

     “No one can break through my magic”, the other woman said, baffled and her voice barely a whisper due to the shock. “No matter how powerful they are, they can’t.”

     “Then who are we dealing with?” the Sheriff asked, turning her head and noticing the trio outside the door. She immediately raised her gun.

     “What are you three doing here?”

     They quickly raised their hands.

     “Sorry, we did not mean to startle you”, Indira said.

     “We’re investigating something”, Wolfgang filled in. “Maybe the same thing as you.”

     The Sheriff slowly lowered her gun.

     “Who are you?” she asked.

     “Not fairytale characters”, Indira answered, “but we ended up here anyway earlier today with no memory stretching back possibly half-a-year.”

     “If you’re under the same curse as the rest of the town you should probably make that one whole year”, the dark-haired woman who had talked about magic said. “That is what the rest of us are experiencing.”

     “But how can they be affected?” the Sheriff asked, looking at her companion. The dark-haired woman shook her head.

     “I don’t know, but from what we just saw happening we are dealing with something new.”

     “What exactly did you see?” Filipi asked.

     “Nothing that concerns you”, the dark-haired woman responded, her tone cold.

     “Maybe it does”, Wolfgang responded and crossed his arms over his chest. The woman whipped her head towards him, her dark eyes glaring.

     “Don’t try to intimidate me, young man.”

     “And why is that?”

     “Wolfgang, seriously, step back”, Filipi said. “You are unarmed and talking to someone who previously talked about using magic. What are you going to do?”

     “Find an explanation to all of this”, he responded.

     “By starting a fight with someone?” Indira asked. “How much of an idiot are you?”

     “Alright, people, please; listen up”, the Sheriff said. “We obviously want the same thing here; we want to find whoever cast the curse and get people’s memories back. Right?”

     “Yes”, the dark-haired woman answered.

     “Exactly”, Indira said at the same time. The blonde nodded.

     “Okay, good. Then let’s go somewhere we can go through what we know and figure out our next step. Alright?”

     “And where would that place be?” the dark-haired woman asked with an ironic, sweet smile. “As you might remember the whole town thinks I’m responsible.”

     “We’ll go to Mary Margaret’s apartment”, the Sheriff responded. At this the dark-haired woman looked pained.

     “No. Henry will be there, won’t he?”

     The Sheriff paused, giving her comrade a compassionate look.

     “You can’t avoid him forever, Regina.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll post up to chapter 15 (which here will display as chapter 16 because prologue) tonight, because that's the first group of chapters that I have to edit over at the wikia :P  
> Also, the Harry Potter-fanfic referenced in the story is called _The Dark Ages_ and can be found at FF.net


	7. Snow White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting with a highly pregnant princess.

     “You should not have done that”, David said, pacing in front of her.

     “Why is that?” she asked, then grimaced slightly as the doctor stitched up the wound at the back of her head.

     “Because look where that got you”, the man in front of her responded, placing his hands on his hips in frustration.

     “Look, it’s not the first scar I’ve ever received”, she responded with a shrug.

     “Then _why_?” David asked and stepped closer. “Why did you do it? What made you push me aside? I do not even know who you are!”

     She hesitated and looked down at her hands. That was the one question she could not answer. If the monkey’s growing wing, which had been what had hit her, had moved towards Chris or Jade she would have known the answer at once; they were her friends and she protected her friends. That was simply who she was. David Nolan was something else. They did not know each other, they had hardly spoken by the town line when she, Toby and Filipi had appeared there and when they had met here at the hospital all she had done was explain to him why they had not stayed at _Granny’s_. Hardly enough to build the kind of friendship that would make her want to take his place when it came to receiving an injury.

     “I don’t know”, she sighed and looked up at him. His features softened somewhat and he nodded.

     “Alright, well, it’s been a confusing day for all of us”, he said. At that Chris popped his head past the screen to her right.

     “Is the reprimanding done?” he asked.

     “Wouldn’t it be better to ask if they’re finished stitching up Rachel’s head?” Jade asked, her head also appearing.

     “Just about”, the doctor answered. “The cut wasn’t too deep; it should heal up nicely.”

     Rachel looked up at him with a smile.

     “Thank you”, she said and rose. This move caused also Hook to rise from a chair by the wall, but Robin remained seated, his eyes staring at something no one else could see.

     “He needs to rest”, a bald man, one of the Merry Men, said. “Losing John like this is hard on him.”

     “Agreed”, David said. “Get him to _Granny’s_ , I’m sure there will be a place for him to rest there.”

     “We can take him”, Chris offered. “I mean, we’re staying there as well, so it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

     “Good”, David said with a nod. “Take the Merry Men with you as well; it’s not safe for them out in the forest.”

     “But...” Robin said, blinking and looking up for the first time. “Roland. I have to get back to Roland.”

     “Who’s Roland?” Rachel asked.

     “My son”, the outlaw answered and rose. “I’m sorry, but I have to get back to him.”

     “Robin, wait”, David said, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder as he turned to walk out of the room. “Let your men get your son. You are of no good use for him as you are now.”

     Robin was about to protest when the bald Merry Man spoke up.

     “I will go and get him and the others, Robin. We will meet up at _Granny’s_.”

     The outlaw’s shoulders slumped in resignation and he allowed himself to be led out of the room by the doctor. Chris and Jade followed, along with the bald man, and Rachel moved to leave as well when David’s hand landed on her shoulder.

     “Not you.”

     “And why is that?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned towards him. “Do you need to lock me up somewhere?”

     “No”, the man answered, “but I want you to come with me and Hook to where I’m staying. We need to go over what has happened and figure out what to do next.”

     “You could have asked Chris or Jade to do that”, Rachel pointed out. “Why me?”

     David did not answer; instead a grinning Hook stepped up.

     “Let’s face it, love; you have made quite an impression on Prince Charming here.”

     “First; don’t call me love”, Rachel said, giving the pirate a sharp gaze. “Second; Prince Charming?”

     “Yeah”, David said and led the way out through the door. “That would be what people called me back in the Enchanted Forest.”

     “And the Enchanted Forest was basically the home of all fairytale characters living in this town?”

     “Not quite”, Hook answered, walking up next to her and allowing David to walk on ahead. “Now most might be from that realm but then there are some originating from other places, like Doctor Whale back there.”

     “Then where is he from?” Rachel asked.

     “Some other place”, Hook answered with a shrug. “I’ve never been there.”

     “Before he came here during the first curse his name was Victor Frankenstein”, David filled in as they walked out through the doors of the hospital.

     “Seriously, I just let Doctor Frankenstein stitch up my head?” Rachel asked with a frown while Hook opened the door to David’s truck for her. “That will be something to tell the grandkids.”

     “You have grandkids?” David asked and gave her a slight frown as she jumped in next to him, ending up in her being lodged between him and Hook.

     “No, I’m only twenty-six”, Rachel huffed. “Why would you think I had grandkids?”

     “Well, I do”, David answered and fired up the engine.

     “Don’t ask, love”, Hook said from her right. “This family-tree is a little more complicated than we all would like.”

* * *

David parked the car outside a small brick apartment complex. Rachel doubted it hosted more than four apartments, maybe less.

     “Rachel?”

     The familiar voice caused her to turn and grin when she noticed the trio standing out on the porch; Indira, Wolfgang and Filipi.

     “Hello guys. Are the three hours up already?”

     “Not exactly, but we went here with the Sheriff after an event at the Town Hall”, Filipi answered. “Why are you with those two?”

     “Adventure at the hospital”, Rachel responded while David and Hook walked past them into the building. “Apparently I was stitched up by Doctor Frankenstein himself.”

     “We just had a ride here with the Evil Queen”, Wolfgang countered. “Though I think you beat that card by travelling with Captain Hook.”

     “If you want him you can have him; his flirting is getting on my nerves”, Rachel groaned as she held the door open for her friends, letting them walk inside. At the top of the stairs they found a group of Storybrooke residents exiting Apartment 3. One of them, a woman with short, black hair, was heavily pregnant.

     “Who are they?” she asked as the four newcomers made their way up.

     “Non-fairytale characters who were somehow affected by the curse as well”, Sheriff Emma Swan answered, then frowned as she spotted Rachel. “But you I don’t remember driving here.”

     “No, she came with us”, David answered. “We had an incident at the hospital.”

     “What kind of incident?” another dark-haired woman asked.

     “We found Little John”, David explained. “He was injured so we brought him to the hospital, but then he... changed.”

     “He turned into a flying monkey”, Hook filled in. The pregnant woman looked startled.

     “People are being turned into flying monkeys?” she hissed.

     “Yes”, the pirate responded.

     “Do you think that’s what happened to the missing dwarves too?” the woman asked, nervously twisting a ring she carried on her left hand.

     “Dwarves?” Indira asked. “Does that make you Snow White?”

     “Mary Margaret”, the woman answered.

     “It’s plausible, at least we haven’t found any trace of them”, David said, answering the previous question.

     “And Neal?” Emma asked.

     “No sign of him either”, David responded, shaking his head. “So it’s possible.”

     Emma looked away.

     “Wouldn’t be the first flying monkey I’ve dated”, she muttered. Mary Margaret’s eyes widened in surprise.

     “The person who escaped our trap disappeared in a cloud of green smoke”, the dark-haired woman Rachel still did not have a name for said, sounding thoughtful, “and now there are flying monkeys in this town? I think we know exactly who cursed us.”

     “Who, the Wicked Witch of the West?” Emma asked, sounding sarcastic. The look the dark-haired woman did however make the sarcasm vanish from her face, being replaced by utter surprise.

     “Seriously? She’s real too?”

     “Says the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming”, Hook pointed out.

     “Wait, she’s your daughter?” Rachel said, looking at David.

     “Yes.”

     “But you’re the same age. How could she be your daughter?”

     “I’m placing my bet on magic”, Wolfgang said. “Anyone want to take the wager?”

     “If I didn’t know the answer I would take you up on that”, Hook answered.

     “I don’t get it”, Indira said. “The whole Oz-story is connected to Kansas; we’re in Maine. Why would the Wicked Witch want to come to Storybrooke?”

     “I don’t know”, the dark-haired woman responded. “I never met her.”

     “What if you did during this missing year?” Mary Margaret suggested.

     “Even if I did I can’t see how she could possibly know about the curse and of Storybrooke”, the woman answered.

     “There’s a whole year missing from our minds?” Rachel asked.

     “Yeah, if we’re affected by the same curse that’s what we’re facing; a year of missing memories”, Filipi responded.

     “So... could we have actually been in the Enchanted Forest as well during that year?” Rachel continued. “If we were there when this new curse was cast it would kind of explain why we were affected as well.”

     “So you think the vortex at Ollivander’s brought us to their land?” Indira asked.

     “And then the curse hit us there and brought us here”, Wolfgang filled in. “Sounds possible.”

     “But if you were affected as well you should have shown up at the same time as the rest of us”, David pointed out. “You didn’t.”

     “There is a possible reason for that”, the dark-haired woman said. “If they used a different kind of magic against the oncoming curse they might have stalled it, or forced it to fight their magic before it could affect them.”

     “What kind of magic would that be?” Mary Margaret asked. “Can we use it as well?”

     The woman shook her head.

     “I don’t know.”

     She eyed the four younger humans with a dark, piercing gaze.

     “Would our wands count?” Filipi eventually asked.

     “What wands?” Emma questioned.

     “Ollivander wands”, Rachel responded.

     “You mean wands from _Harry Potter_?” Emma asked, then looked around at the others. “Is that real too?”

     “Not that we know of”, Mary Margaret answered.

     “Not quite”, the dark-haired woman countered. “Those books aren’t real, but Ollivander is. He’s responsible for making the fairy wands.”

     “I thought fairies made their own wands”, Mary Margaret said with a frown.

     “No, they need a wand-maker for that. Ollivander was the one they usually hired for the job, but he sometimes made wands out of other materials than what the fairies used. If you obtained some of those wands you might have been able to fight back the curse.”

     “So we need our wands”, Wolfgang said. “Brilliant. Now if we could just find them again.”


	8. Black Marble Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _One year prior_  
>  The Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
> 
> A run-in with Robin Hood and the Evil Queen.

“Well, this isn’t too bad, is it?” Jade said, peering out from behind the curtain and then quickly pulled back as one of the flying monkeys passed outside the window of the room they were in.

     “Could definitely have been better”, Wolfgang answered, rubbing his wrist. He must have landed on it when the vortex dropped them off, but since he could move and flex his fingers he doubted it was worse than a sprain.

     “We’re missing most of our friends, we’re somewhere we don’t know and we’ve got flying monkeys on patrol outside the window”, Toby said. “How could it not have been better?”

     “On this one I agree with Toby”, Rachel said. “Wherever that vortex brought us we’re not here to have fun and relax, it would seem.”

     “Flying monkeys would place us in Oz, wouldn’t it?” Arianne asked. “I mean, if Oz was a real place this could actually be it.”

     “I’m actually going to go ahead and say it’s a real place”, Filipi responded. “By the way, the monkeys are leaving.”

     “Leaving?” Wolfgang said, walking up to the window. “Where would they be heading? To destroy some random town?”

     “Maybe”, Rachel said and joined him, “or maybe something drew their attention.”

     “I vote for getting out of here while we can”, Jade said.

     “No”, Toby said, vigorously shaking his head. “No, we’re not going anywhere. Not this time. I don’t want those stories to become a reality.”

     He glared at Rachel who huffed at him.

     “Really, Toby? You’re afraid the Huldra might come after you?”

     “Let’s face it, Rachel; this is just like one of your stories”, Filipi said with a smile. “Toby’s just playing his usual part of never moving out of his safe zone.”

     “Which is the logical thing to do”, Toby pointed out. “This room is, as far as we know, safe while outside we have flying monkeys with sharp teeth and who knows what other creatures that might be lurking there.”

     “Well, I’m going”, Wolfgang said and rose. “I’m done waiting around in here.”

     “No. No. Stop. _Petrificus Totalus_!”

     Wolfgang hardly had time to hear Toby finish the spell before his arms and legs were locked to his sides and he fell onto his back, unable to move anything but his eyes.

     “What the hell, Toby?” Jade exclaimed. Toby did not respond; instead he looked from Wolfgang to the wand in his hands and back again.

     “It works?” Arianne asked, looking equally surprised.

     “ _Finite_ ”, Rachel said, waving her own wand towards Wolfgang who instantly found himself capable of moving again.

     “What was that for?” he angrily said when he got up on his feet again.

     “It was the first thing that came to mind, really”, Toby answered.

     “But this means we have working wands”, Filipi said. “We could actually defend ourselves.”

     “Or at least do a pretty good job at it”, Jade filled in. “See, Toby; you have a weapon that you know how to use perfectly! Why should you linger back in this room when you have that?”

     “For the same reasons I previously stated”, Toby answered.

     “Toby, I’m sorry, but the logical thing right now is not to wait for people to rescue us because they don’t have a clue about where we are”, Rachel pointed out. “Until we have means to communicate with some friendly possible rescuers we have to get going on our own.”

     Toby muttered something inaudible but eventually seemed to see the logic behind this reasoning as well and joined the group as they slowly made their way out of the room. This led them to a corridor built out of black marble, or at least a stone highly similar to that.

     “So, which way do we go?” Jade asked. “Should we split up?”

     “No splitting up”, Toby quickly ordered.

     “It’s _not_ one of my stories, Toby”, Rachel groaned.

     “Well I’m not taking any risks.”

     “Alright”, Wolfgang said. “No splitting up or Toby will start to panic. Let’s go this way.”

     He brandished his wand and took the lead through the dark corridor. In his head he went over every possible spell and curse he could use against a possible opponent that might be lurking around the next corner. It was as if he had always been walking with a wand at the ready.

     He peered around the corner and saw a dark shadow at the other end, but whoever it was he had seen the person was moving away from them.

     “Come on”, he whispered. The others followed him and together they aimed for the stairs at the far end. He did not bother mentioning that he had seen someone walking down there only moments before.

     “Regina!”

     The voice caused them to stop. It was male, had a British accent and came from somewhere to their right. There was another corridor not far ahead from where they were standing, leading them in that direction.

     “No splitting up, right?” Wolfgang said, looking back at the others.

     “Logically...” Toby begun.

     “If you mention that word again I’ll cast a silencing spell on you”, Jade threatened. “Let’s find out who needs our help.”

     “Your Gryffindor is showing, Jade”, Wolfgang said with a grin, before they took off down the corridor. At the end they found a large set of open double doors and inside the well-kept bedchamber was a man, dressed in medieval styled clothes and holding a longbow in his left hand. At the moment he was desperately trying to move his feet, but they seemed to be glued to the floor, effectively rendering him incapable of moving. When he looked up and saw them standing there, however, he still drew an arrow and raised his bow.

     “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he asked.

     “You’re seriously going to shoot us just because of that we came to see why you were shouting?” Wolfgang asked. The archer drew back the bowstring.

     “I should warn you; my arrows never miss their mark”, he said, his voice threatening.

     “Really?” Jade asked. “You’re like a Robin Hood-hero-person, then?”

     The man frowned at her in surprise and lowered the bow.

     “I _am_ Robin Hood”, he responded. This caused the group in the door to stare at him in surprise.

     “So we’re not in Oz?” Arianne asked.

     “You don’t know where you are?” Robin asked.

     “No, we were transported here by a green vortex”, Rachel responded. “We assumed we were in Oz when we saw flying monkeys outside.”

     “No, you’re not in Oz”, Robin said, then tried once more, to yank his feet free. “Come on!”

     “You need some help with that?” Jade asked. Robin looked up once more.

     “Can you undo this spell?” he asked, frowning.

     “Actually, Jade, we don’t know which spell is responsible for gluing him to the floor”, Toby pointed out. “Casting the wrong counter-spell might cause more harm than help.”

     “I was actually going to suggest you cast one”, Jade responded. “You’ve probably got every single spell ever mentioned in even the shortest paragraph beneath all that hair.”

     Toby stared at her.

     “It can’t hurt to cast a spell like Finite”, Rachel pointed out.

     “Then why don’t you?” Toby asked, turning towards her.

     “Because you’re the best one when it comes to spells.”

     “No, you’re trying to get me into trouble.”

     “Fine, I’ll do it!” Wolfgang groaned and flicked his wand. “ _Finite Incantatem_!”

     The spell on the outlaw’s feet immediately lifted and he sighed in relief when he was able to move them again.

     “Thank you”, he said, then hurried past them into the corridor.

     “Where are you going?” Jade asked as they turned and followed.

     “I need to find the Queen before she goes through with her spell”, Robin answered.

     “Rewind; what Queen and what spell and where the hell are we?” Filipi asked.

     “You’re in the Dark Palace in the Enchanted Forest”, Robin answered as he led them down the stairs. “The Queen is Queen Regina, formerly known as the Evil Queen. I came to aid her lower a shield cast by the Wicked Witch so that she could regain possession of her castle. At least, that’s what I thought when we came here; seems she was planning all along to use a sleeping curse on herself once the shield is down.”

     They stepped off the staircase and Robin stopped, looking around.

     “Do you know the way to the courtyard?” he asked.

     “You mean you don’t?” Arianne asked in return.

     “I have never visited this castle before.”

     “Well, we’re newcomers in this land, so I doubt we’ll be much help in finding anything”, Rachel pointed out. A cackling sound drew their attention and they looked out through the window, seeing a witch soar past on a broom.

     “I assume that is the Wicked Witch”, Toby breathed.

     “Regina!” Robin shouted, taking off down the corridor.

     “Has he got any idea where he’s going?” Arianne asked.

     “I highly doubt that, but I don’t want to lose sight of him”, Rachel responded as they all took off after him. The chase led them through a set of winding corridors and down another set of stairs before they suddenly found themselves standing in a courtyard, lit up by multiple torches. Close to the centre stood a woman clad in black who turned as they approached, looking both furious and surprised.

     “How did you get out of that enchantment?” she asked Robin.

     “I found some help, or rather they found me”, he responded, glancing back at his companions. “Now, I can’t let you go through with your plan.”

     “Don’t worry”, the woman answered. “I have to admit that you were right; the Sleeping Curse wasn’t the answer.”

     She smiled at him.

     “As you said I just needed to find something to live for.”

     Robin smiled tentatively at her.

     “And you found it?” he asked. “What is it?”

     “Something I haven’t had in a very long time”, the woman answered. The wicked smile on her face caused Robin’s smile to disappear and caused the six others in the courtyard to tighten the grip on their wands.

     “Someone to destroy.”

     “Alright, I can see why she’s called the Evil Queen”, Wolfgang said, drawing the woman’s gaze.

     “You haven’t seen a thing yet, young man.”


	9. Brown-Haired Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> The adorable son of Robin Hood appears and a meeting is held with the outlaw and the pirate captain.

When even Tessa had trouble eating the delicious sandwiches Hazel had bought at the diner across the street one knew something was wrong. Over and over again she glanced up at the clock on the wall, wondering where their friends had gone off to. What if something really bad had happened to them? What if that flying creature that had attacked Toby, Rachel and Filipi had returned?

     “Papa?”

     The small voice outside the door, accompanied by a knock, caused the members of the trio to look up. Tessa rose from the bed and walked over to the door, turning the knob and revealing a stout, bald man and, standing in front of him, a boy with dark hair who could not be more than five years old.

     “My sincerest apologies; we must be in the wrong room”, the man said.

     “Is papa not here?” the little boy asked.

     “No, I think he must be in another room”, Tessa answered. “Don’t worry, you’ll find him.”

     “I always find him”, the boy said with a proud smile. “He’s not good at hide and seek.”

     “Are you, then?” Tessa asked and knelt down in front of him. The boy nodded.

     “I always win.”

     “Well, then you haven’t tried playing it with me yet. I bet I could beat you.”

     “You think?” the boy asked, his eyes wide. “Will you play with me now?”

     “Weren’t you looking for your father?”

     “Yeah, but Tuck said he was sad and when papa is sad he won’t play with me”, the boy responded and pouted.

     “Well, then, maybe your dad needs someone to cheer him up?” Tessa suggested. “Like you. Then we can play, alright?”

     “It’s alright, Roland”, a new voice said, causing them all to turn. By the door leading in to another room stood a broad shouldered man wearing a chequered shirt. He had light brown hair on the verge of golden and, due to the fact that his sleeves were rolled up, a tattoo on his right wrist. He also spoke in a different accent than most of the others; a British one.

     “Papa!” the little boy, Roland, exclaimed and ran up to the man, who swooped him up in his arms with a smile.

     “There you go, you found me again”, the man said.

     “You are not good at hiding, papa”, Roland said. The man smiled at him.

     “I think you should teach me.”

     He then glanced over at Tessa, who now had been joined by Toby and Miranda in the door.

     “I believe some of your friends can be found inside my room”, he said. “They are busy arguing about what _TV-show_ to watch.”

     “How long have they been here?” Miranda asked with a frown. “They should have told us they were back.”

     The bald man, most likely the one called Tuck, stepped aside and allowed them to walk out into the narrow corridor and up to the man and his son. From inside his room they could hear two familiar voices.

     “Jade, can’t we watch something else?” Chris asked. “It’s not fun watching a show you’ve already watched.”

     “Don’t you find it hilarious that you’re able to predict what the characters are going to do before they do it?” Jade responded.

     “It was fun the first five times”, Chris grumbled. “After thirty minutes of it you sort of get bored.”

     “You’ve been here for _thirty minutes_ and you didn’t even consider coming to tell us about it?” Tessa exclaimed, causing both Chris and Jade to jump up from the floor.

     “Hi guys”, Jade said and grinned sheepishly. “Want to join us?”

     “I should apologize for your friends staying in here without alerting you”, the man said and put Roland down on the bed. “They were here because of me and the state I was in. Though I must say I have little knowledge about what they speak of they have managed to get me to cheer up a bit.”

     “This requires an explanation as to how you all met and what has happened”, Toby said. “Also, where are the others?”

     “Rachel went with Hook and David to some briefing of the situation”, Chris answered. “Wolf, Indira and Fili went in the other direction of the street, so we haven’t seen them since we left.”

     “What situation are you talking about?” Miranda asked.

     “I knew we shouldn’t have split up; I knew it”, Toby muttered.

     “Oh stop it; you cover a lot more ground if you split up”, Jade argued.

     “Perhaps we should discuss this outside”, the man suggested. “Roland, I’ll be right back. Tuck will stay with you while I talk to our new friends.”

     “Will you read me a story when you come back, papa?” Roland asked. The man smiled and bent to kiss his son on the brow.

     “Of course.”

     They walked back out into the corridor and into the room that the newcomers had used as their headquarters. Jadewas the first to speak.

     “Anyway, Rachel, Chris and I went to the hospital where we bumped into Hook, David and Mr Robin Hood here and then we saw Little John being turned into a flying monkey. So that was our adventure.”

     “A flying _what_?” Miranda, Tessa and Toby said at the same time.

     “Monkey”, Chris answered. “A flying monkey.”

     “But... that’s impossible”, Toby said with a frown. “Such things do not exist.”

     “You forget you’re in a town filled with fairytale characters, mate”, a voice from the door pointed out, causing them to turn around. Both Tessa and Miranda inhaled sharply at the dark-clad man’s appearance; he certainly was dangerously handsome. He also had a hook instead of a left hand, which revealed his fairytale identity.

     “Are we having another meeting in here?” he asked and stepped inside.

     “What are you doing here?” Jade asked.

     “I was simply escorting some of your friends back from our previous meeting”, he said and waved back at the door. “Granted Swan came along as well; she’s staying in a different room, after all.”

     “But if you accompanied our friends, where are they?” Toby asked.

     “Still downstairs with Swan, probably checking some things for tomorrow”, Hook answered.

     “Why, what’s happening tomorrow?” Tessa asked. Hook gave a crooked smile.

     “Well, love, I think it’s time we find the wicked thing behind this curse.”

     “Wicked”, Toby said. “That’s what I thought; flying monkeys were servants of the Wicked Witch of the West.”

     “Is that who we are facing?” Robin asked.

     “It would seem so”, Hook answered with a shrug, “unless you know any other villain capable of creating such creatures.”

     Robin’s jaw tensed and he looked away from Hook’s gaze, a movement that caused the pirate’s features to soften somewhat as well.

     “You’re alright, mate?”

     “Better”, Robin answered. He still looked tense and Tessa felt the urge to give him a hug. However, before she could act on that urge steps were heard outside the room and Rachel, Indira, Wolfgang and Filipi appeared in the doorway.

     “This is the last time we split up”, Toby said. “Next time you lot disappear without any means of keeping touch I might have a heart attack!”

     “Seriously?” Wolfgang asked. “Even a Ravenclaw should see the logic behind splitting up.”

     “This isn’t one of my stories, Toby”, Rachel pointed out, before her eyes stuck on Robin. “Are you alright?”

     “Better”, Robin said, repeating what he had previously told Hook. “How is your head?”

     “Your _head_?” Miranda said. Rachel grimaced slightly.

     “A minor cut caused by a fall against a shelf at the hospital. Nothing to worry about.”

     “Apparently she got stitched up by Doctor Frankenstein”, Wolfgang said with a grin.

     “Wait, the doctor at the hospital was Frankenstein?” Chris asked.

     “How come he’s here; Frankenstein is a novel, not a fairytale”, Toby pointed out.

     “Well, Robin Hood is a ballad and a legend, while Hook is from an early 20th century play”, Rachel pointed out. “It would seem like anything goes, really.”

     “Including bits and pieces from _Harry Potter_ ”, Indira filled in. “We spoke with the Mayor of this town, Regina Mills, and she believed that we might have actually become the owners of some real Ollivander wands.”

     “Real Ollivander wands?” Tessa asked.

     “Yes, apparently Ollivander is a real person in the Enchanted Forest”, Filipi explained. “He has made wands for all of the fairies, but it is believed he also creates wands that suite humans.”

     “Also these wands use a different kind of magic than all the other fairytale characters capable of using magic, so if we can find them we might be able to give the Wicked Witch a bit of a surprise”, Indira said with a smile.

     “Wait, this is all very confusing”, Toby said. “What about our missing memories?”

     “Everyone in this town has lost a year’s worth of memories, Toby”, Rachel answered, “and we suspect we might as well. Not just a couple of months as we first believed.”

     “We also believe that the vortex that brought us away from Orlando brought us to the Enchanted Forest to begin with”, Filipi filled in, “and that we were brought here after spending a year there.”

     “So these scars and injuries we have we received in the Enchanted Forest?” Chris asked.

     “Cool, I might have been in a battle, then”, Jade said with a grin and rolled up her sleeve.

     “That doesn’t look like a battle-scar”, Robin remarked. Hook sauntered over as well and nodded in agreement.

     “He’s right, love. That’s not a scar originating from some weapon that could be used in a battle back in the Enchanted Forest.”

     “Damn it!” Jade exclaimed.

     “Alright, let me see if I got this right”, Toby said. “We met the real Ollivander in Orlando, received real, proper wands from him, were pulled into a vortex that caused us to end up in the Enchanted Forest, spent a year there and then ended up here thanks to the curse that is affecting the entire town.”

     “Yep, that’s it”, Wolfgang said.

     “These wands you are talking about, do you still have them?” Robin asked.

     “No, we must have lost them when the curse hit back in the Enchanted Forest”, Filipi responded.

     “However, Regina also mentioned that this might mean they were transported here _but_ might have ended up hidden somewhere due to that the Wicked Witch does not want us to use them”, Rachel filled in.

     “So our wands might be somewhere in Storybrooke?” Tessa gasped.

     “They would certainly come in handy”, Jade said. “Can we go look for them?”

     “Look for them?” Toby said. “Apparently they _might_ be _somewhere_ in Storybrooke. We’re looking for a set of wooden sticks in a _town_ , Jade; it’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack.”

     “Not necessarily”, Chris said. “You’re the logical one, Toby; think about it. If you want to hide something that looks like simple wooden sticks, where do you hide them?”

     Toby paused.

     “The forest”, he eventually answered.

     “Exactly”, Chris said with a grin. “I actually think we have an adventure in the forest to look forward to.”

     “Rachel, please tell me you’re not writing this story!” Toby exclaimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that the OCs are from 2017 and this story is set in spring 2014, hence why Chris and Jade are able to foresee what happens in various TV-show episodes ;)


	10. Clear Blue Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _9 months prior_  
>  The Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
> 
> Rachel meets a friend in the stables.

After spending almost three months in the Enchanted Forest at least Rachel had started to feel at home. In a way it was like living in one of her own stories; she got to wear clothes that would be considered costumes back on Earth, she got to go horse riding every day, was able to wield magic and had started to become quite adept with the sword. Of course there were days when she wanted nothing but to go back home and live a normal life, but those were becoming fewer and fewer. Deep inside she knew that one day this would all end; she and the others would have to go back to Earth and live their ordinary lives, but at least that day had not come yet, and until it did she intended to live her life to the fullest in the Enchanted Forest.

     Despite the threat of the Wicked Witch and the constant fear of her return they had managed to make a home for themselves in the Dark Palace. All of them, including those that had been rescued on the road by Snow White and Prince Charming, or David – Charming was the nickname Snow had given him during their first meeting and it had sort of stuck. No wonder, considering he was always a gentleman. She knew some of the others got a bit annoyed with his ways and preferred the cheeky glint in the eyes of Robin Hood to David’s manners, but personally she preferred the company of the Prince. The outlaw also did not seem to enjoy her company too much, unlike how he enjoyed that of Chris and Tessa and Jade; something that might have to do with her mentioning at one point that archery was cheating since you did not have to face your opponent while killing or disarming them. It was not that he hated her, but in a way she guessed she had valued his skills as less important than for example David’s.

     The sun was shining when she headed out to the stables this morning and it made her hum some silly little tune while grooming the brown mare that she was set to ride.

     “Oh, I didn’t see you there.”

     Rachel looked up from grooming the mare’s legs to find David standing outside the stall.

     “Good morning to you too”, she said and straightened. She thought he would be smiling at her like he always did when they met, or whenever he met anyone in the castle, but instead he was frowning.

     “Is something wrong?” she asked, frowning as well.

     “No, of course not”, David responded and managed a hint of a smile.

     “That frown says something else”, she remarked, “but if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. It’s not my job to pry.”

     David smiled once more and turned to walk away, but stopped and turned back.

     “Are you about to go on a ride?” he asked.

     “Yes, it’s a lovely morning for one.”

     “Would you mind having some company?”

     Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. That was not a question she had expected to ever get from Prince Charming.

     “No, not at all”, she eventually answered.

     They prepared their horses in silence and left the castle in the same manner. With every step the horses took Rachel found herself wondering why he had asked to come with her; it was not like they had spoken much in the castle or in any way acted unlike anything but allies in this dire situation. Had it been just because of that she happened to be in the stables when he arrived?

     “So”, she said when the silence had been pressing on for far too long, “is everything alright, sir?”

     “Why are you addressing me in that way?” David asked with a frown.

     “Well, you are a prince”, Rachel pointed out. “There must be some sort of formal title that I absolutely must add to everything I say in order not to anger you... sir.”

     David smiled in amusement and shook his head.

     “I wasn’t always a prince”, he said and looked forward. “In fact I have been a prince for a shorter time of my life than I have been anything else.”

     “That’s a story I’d like to hear.”

     David smiled again.

     “I was born as a twin in a very poor family”, he begun. “After my birth Rumplestiltskin, the Dark One, came to my parents and said that they would be paid handsomely if they allowed one of us to be raised as the son of a barren king and queen. My parents accepted the deal and sent my twin brother, James. I stayed with my parents and was raised as a shepherd. In fact I did not even know I had a brother until I was already and adult and Rumplestiltskin came back to ask me to take his place as a prince.”

     “I can honestly say I did not expect that”, Rachel admitted. “So you took your brother’s place? Was that how you met Snow White?”

     “Yes, but our story is quite long and complicated”, David answered. “I was set to marry the daughter of King Midas when she robbed my carriage and, while trying to get the stolen goods back, I fell in love with her.”

     “To be honest that story is way more interesting than the one told back home about you two”, Rachel said with a smile, “but maybe that’s just me.”

     “What about you, then?” David asked and looked at her. “What were you doing before you found yourself tangled up in all of this?”

     “I was a teacher”, Sandra answered, “and a writer, though I haven’t published any books yet. It’s how I keep my sanity; I write down all of these crazy stories flying around in my head in order to be able to focus.”

     “Considering how well you work with horses I am also going to guess you’re a rider”, David said as they exited the forest they had previously been riding in. “Would you like to try and beat me?”

     “You mean that we should race? Now?”

     David smiled, before he turned his horse and with a sharp call and a press of his legs against the horse’s sides caused it to break into a gallop.

     “You bloody cheater!” Rachel yelled, before following suit. Her brown mare rushed forward and she kept her head down, her eyes watering from the speed. They closed in on David’s white horse and, after calling out to her animal once again, found herself racing next to him. He grinned and urged his horse to go faster, but she kept up with him. The trees on the other side of the field approached fast and Rachel found herself wondering where their race should end. It was certainly not wise to continue through the forest at this speed; the horses could easily stumble and injure themselves. Thus the closer they came to the trees the more she straightened up and slowed her horse, allowing David to take the lead once again. He pulled his own horse to a trot and then to a stop right before the tree line, turning around to face her.

     “You could have won”, he remarked.

     “Well, I didn’t know where the race would end, and I certainly was not going to go galloping through the forest”, she responded. He considered her response for a few moments before he nodded.

     “You’re right”, he said and patted his horse on the neck. “I should not have acted so... irrationally.”

     “To be honest you looked like you needed it”, Rachel answered. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

     David hesitated before he nodded.

     “Yes, I’m...”

     He fell silent again and his eyes became distant, looking in the direction of the castle.

     “I don’t know”, he eventually responded. “I received some news this morning that should have made me happy, but instead... I don’t know.”

     “That still does not explain why you wanted to come with me”, Rachel pointed out.

     “Well, no, it does not. In fact I do not know the answer to that myself.”

     She studied him in silence for a while. It was the first time she had seen him this conflicted, as if he wanted to tell her something but was not sure if he should or could.

     “David”, she said, using his first name for the first time, “I know we don’t really know each other and that we probably look at things differently, but if you ever need someone to talk to, or take a ride with, or whatever it is you want to do, I’m here. Alright?”

     He met her gaze once more and, for the first time that day, there was relief visible in those blue eyes of his.

     “Thank you”, he said and gave her a genuine smile. “We should probably head back; the others must be wondering where we are.”

     They let the horses walk back to the castle, but this time the silence between them was comfortable.

     “Snow’s pregnant”, David said when they were grooming the horses. Rachel was about to express how happy she was for the two of them when she caught the look in his eyes.

     “That was why you needed to leave, wasn’t it?” she asked instead.

     “Yeah.”

     She studied him as he once more focused on his horse.

     “Well, like I said before; I’m here if you ever feel the need to talk, or just hang out.”

     “I appreciate that, Rachel. I really do.”


	11. Wicked Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> Time for some plans...

Due to that _Granny’s Bed & Breakfast_ was a small place suddenly finding itself crowded with people who needed somewhere to sleep, the group of nine transported there last had to do with three rooms. Needless to say few of them got any sleep that night and thus when they met up in the morning in the same room they had used the day before (which during the night had been occupied by Filipi, Jade and Miranda) they all yawned and most of them had bloodshot eyes. Outside there was a fine layer of snow covering the ground; the temperature must have dropped during the night.

     “Seems like the Witch has an advantage on us already”, Wolfgang said and slumped back against the wall.

     “What is it that we’re going to do today, exactly?” Toby asked.

     “Search for the wands”, Chris answered.

     “Figure out who the Wicked Witch is”, Filipi filled in.

     “Sleep”, Jade grunted, her voice barely audible due to that her face was buried in a pillow.

     “We have to split up, Toby”, Indira said, noticing her friend’s expression.

     “I don’t see why we should get involved in all of this when we don’t even know what’s going on”, Toby responded. “Is it not better to let those with more knowledge of it all head out on these missions?”

     “We also need to figure out where the rest of our friends are”, Rachel said. “Considering that we appeared out of nowhere they should have done the same, meaning people should have seen them appearing. However, no one seems to know anything about their whereabouts.”

     Before anyone could respond to this statement a knock sounded on the door. Upon opening it their visitor was revealed to be Robin Hood.

     “What are you doing here?” Chris asked.

     “Well, as you mentioned yesterday you need to find your wands in order to be able to fight the Wicked Witch”, the man said, smiling. “I am here to offer you my assistance, as a thank you for helping me last night.”

     Surprised glances were exchanged all through the room before Jade suddenly jumped off the bed.

     “Finally something to do.”

     “I thought you said you wanted to sleep”, Miranda said.

     “If it’s either sleep or going on an adventure with Robin Hood, I’ll pick the latter option any day”, Jade answered with a grin.

     “Well, then I’m coming too”, Chris said. “After all, we Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders.”

     “Hey, don’t say that like you’re the only one in this room!” Tessa exclaimed.

     “Why don’t you come along, then?” Chris said, grinning. Tessa gaped at him for a few moments before she groaned and rose.

     “Fine. Fili, are you coming as well?”

     “I wouldn’t miss it for the world”, the Finnish girl answered. Robin looked amused.

     “Anyone else?” Jade asked.

     “No, I think that would be very troublesome for Robin”, Rachel chuckled. “Go, find our wands and bring them back here.”

     “Yes ma’am”, Chris said and saluted. Rachel rolled her eyes at him as the quartet plus Robin walked out of the room, leaving a much smaller group behind.

     “And apparently I am not allowed to have a say in this matter”, Toby muttered.

     “Just because of that I wrote something a couple of years back where splitting up was the worst idea we could have ever had it does not mean it’s going to be like that now”, Rachel responded.

     “Besides, walking around in a group of nine people is certainly going to attract a lot more attention than a smaller group of three, four or five”, Indira filled in. Another knock on the door, but this time their guest let himself in; Hook.

     “Time to get going, mates”, he said, flashing a grin.

     “Where?” Toby asked, sounding suspicious.

     “Well, we need a strategy for finding the Wicked Witch, don’t we?” Hook answered. “We’re off to the Charmings right away and they requested you be there too, since you’re involved in the search as well after what happened last night.”

     “Hear that, Toby?” Wolfgang said with a grin. “People want us to help. Now that’s a sign we can’t just sit around in here all day.”

     He rose and looked expectantly at Indira, who got up as well.

     “Looks like the Gryffindors are on the case again”, Wolfgang said with a grin. Hook’s eyes stuck on Rachel.

     “Not you today, love?” he asked.

     “No, I’m staying here”, she responded. “I should probably take it easy.”

     “And you two won’t be coming, either?” Indira asked, looking at Miranda and Toby. The two of them both shook their heads.

     “I guess we Ravenclaws are better off staying behind”, Miranda said with a smile. “Just... try to keep in touch this time around.”

     “If we find a way to do that, we will”, Indira promised. They walked out, Hook grinning at them one more time before closing the door. Once they were gone Rachel let out a deep sigh.

     “If he calls me ‘love’ one more time I swear I’m going to punch him.”

* * *

Accompanied by Hook and Emma, Wolfgang and Indira made it to the apartment belonging to Mary Margaret and David Nolan, aka Snow White and Prince Charming. The inside of their living quarters was not quite what they had expected; brick walls covered in either white paint or graffiti, old, mismatching furniture and wooden pillars going from the floor to the ceiling. It had an open room layout with no walls or doors and, as it lay at the top of the house, it had the advantage of a sleeping loft, which did not seem to be used as the couple’s bed was placed behind the staircase leading up to said loft instead. At the moment the rest of the crew set on solving this mystery had gathered around the kitchen island, Mary Margaret being the only one sitting down thanks to her predicament. Hook sauntered up and leaned against the counter while Emma, Wolfgang and Indira placed themselves wherever there was room around the island.

     “So, now that we know who we’re dealing with, how do we find this Wicked Witch?” David asked.

     “Might I suggest we start by asking if anyone’s seen a woman with green skin running around?” Hook responded, smiling sarcastically.

     “We’re cursed in Storybrooke”, Regina Mills pointed out. “She’ll look like anyone of us.”

     “Damn it”, Wolfgang muttered.

     “We should start somewhere where we know she’s been; Regina’s office”, Emma said.

     “I went over it with a fine toothcomb; she left no trace”, Regina argued.

     “You were looking for magic; maybe there’s physical evidence that you missed”, Emma responded.

     “Good idea; we’ll track her”, David agreed.

     “If you want to waste your time playing Nancy Drew be my guest, but we can’t let Henry wander around alone with that witch and her flying monkeys out there”, Regina pointed out.

     “Who’s Henry?” Indira asked. Everyone around her, with the exception of Wolfgang, who was equally as clueless as she was, seemed to tense up.

     “It’s a complicated story, love”, Hook eventually answered. “But he should probably not be running around out there as one of those monkeys could turn out to be his father.”

     Mary Margaret looked like she wanted to slap the pirate hard across his face.

     “Point being”, Regina said, “someone needs to protect Henry. He doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

     “I’m guessing you’re volunteering?” Emma asked. Regina gave a hint of a nod and moved to leave.

     “If you find anything, call me.”

     “Just remember; he thinks we’re here because I’m on a case”, Emma said, blocking her way. Regina smiled slightly.

     “Well, look who’s gotten good at lying.”

     “Just... as far as Henry knows, you’re Madame Mayor, and that’s it”, Emma said. She was fidgeting with a knitted hat.

     “I’m well aware of how Henry sees me”, Regina answered, her voice sharp. Emma nodded and moved aside, allowing Regina to leave.

     “Time’s wasting”, Hook said after the Mayor had left. “There’s something wicked in your town; what do you say we go and find it?”


	12. Red Holly Berry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to track a witch...

“So, these wands you’re looking for, what do they look like?” Robin asked while scanning the forest floor.

     “Like sticks, really”, Chris answered, “but with a carved-out handle that might sometimes have patterns. Like my handle has this criss-cross pattern all over it.”

     “They will definitely not be easy to find”, Tessa said and picked up a stick from the ground, waving it around. “Nope, no magic there.”

     “We can’t go around testing every single stick in the forest”, Filipi pointed out. “There’s got to be some other way to find them.”

     “Well, what are they made of?” Robin asked. “What type of tree?”

     “That depends on the wand”, Chris answered. “According to what we have read about Ollivander every type of tree has certain magical abilities. Some are suitable for healing, some for curses, some for duels, some for cooking...”

     “Maybe not the last one”, Jade interrupted. “But the others I agree with.”

     “Mine for example is made of Acacia”, Tessa explained. “It’s a loyal type of wood, so no one else but me can use the wand.”

     “While mine is Holly, a wand suited for someone engaged in a dangerous quest”, Chris filled in.

     “Well, I do not know of the Acacia, but Holly I have seen in this forest”, Robin said, looking at Chris. “It is highly possible that we will find at least your wand there; where better to hide a wand made of wood than with its own tree?”

     “Wait”, Jade suddenly said. She was standing on top of a boulder, obviously trying to spy something among the trees. The tone of her voice caused the others to tense.

     “What is it?” Filipi eventually asked. Jade jumped down from the stone and gazed upwards. There was the ominous sound of wings sounding above the treetops, causing them all to huddle down and hide behind a set of bushes.

     “Am I the only one who thinks they’re on patrol?” Jade asked as a black shadow passed them without noticing that it was being observed.

     “There’s something close by that it does not want us to find”, Robin agreed. “Do you know what anyone else’s wand is made of?”

     “I don’t know which wand that belongs to who, but I know there are some made of Oak, Alder and Black Walnut”, Chris answered.

     “There are Alder-trees growing close to where we are”, Robin said, glancing up at the sky. “Come, this way.”

* * *

In daylight the splendour of the Mayor’s office became clear to both Indira and Wolfgang, however the fact that glass vials of various shapes, colours and sizes were spread out across it somehow made it less intimidating. David took charge of investigating the vials close by the conference table together with Indira, while Hook, Emma and Wolfgang checked the desk and scanned the marble floor for possible traces.

     “Why did she wreck all of this in the first place?” Indira asked.

     “We were trying to make a memory-potion”, Emma answered. “All in hopes of bringing people’s memories of the lost year back.”

     “Yeah, that might have been a good idea”, Wolfgang agreed, picking up one of the files from the desk.

     “So, how did the Wicked Witch know about it?” Indira asked, ignoring her friend.

     “We spread the rumour that we were about to succeed”, Emma answered, trying to find fingerprints on the window. “Regina had sealed the room with a blood lock, so we did not think the one behind all of this would be able to escape.”

     “But blood locks are extremely powerful”, Indira argued. “I don’t know the exact nature of them, but I believe they can only be broken by someone who shares the same DNA, the same genes.”

     “Regina is an only child”, David answered and rose from his kneeling position, “and her parents are both dead. Whoever this Wicked Witch is she must have managed to break the lock by some other means.”

     His gaze fell on something on the floor, close to where they believed the Wicked Witch had disappeared the night before.

     “We have a partial footprint”, he said and knelt down to the red spot. It had probably not been spotted before due to being so small and not being placed on a white section of the marble.

     “Is that blood?” Emma asked, frowning as she walked up to the man who appeared to be her father. David knelt once more, sticking his finger in the red stain and then smelling it.

     “It’s a berry”, he said, sounding slightly surprised.

     “A fruit?” Wolfgang asked. “Why would the Wicked Witch bring a fruit along?”

     “No, it’s a Holly berry”, David answered and rose. “They grow on bushes...”

     “Were you... some sort of botanist in this life, mate?” Hook asked.

     “I worked in an animal shelter; saw dogs crack them all the time”, David responded, ignoring the tone of the pirate’s voice. “The bushes grow in the woods.”

     “Do you know where?” Emma asked.

     “Yeah, northwest corner, not far from the Toll Bridge”, David answered. His phone suddenly beeped and he reached into his pocket to take it out, flipping it open and reading the message he had received. It made him frown and look from the screen to the small berry in his other hand.

     “Is everything okay?” Indira asked.

     “Yeah, just... Mary Margaret needs me to come back to the loft”, David said, his eyes still on the phone. “We’re... getting a midwife and she wants to meet with both of us, so...”

     “A bit demanding isn’t she?” Hook said. Both Emma and Indira turned towards him with angry glares.

     “I meant the midwife”, Hook quickly pointed out. Neither of the women seemed to fully believe him, but allowed the subject to drop. For now. David turned towards Emma with a conflicted look in his eyes.

     “It’s fine”, she said. “Go.”

     “But... we just got on track here, I mean...”

     “And I’ve got it covered”, Emma said with a smile. “She needs you.”

     David looked down at his phone again, trying to come up with a valuable excuse.

     “Just meet us when you’re done”, Indira suggested. David glanced up from the phone, then down again, fidgeting with the device for a few moments before placing it back in his pocket. He looked up once more, seemed to be about to say something but then shook his head and turned, walking out of the office.

     “So, we’re off to this Toll Bridge place?” Wolfgang asked, putting the folder he had been flipping through back on the desk.

     “Yeah, I think that would be the next step”, Emma answered. “Unless anyone’s found anything else?”

     “Other than an austere sense of design; nothing”, Hook answered with a grin. Emma rolled her eyes at him.

     “Let’s get going”, she said. “The sooner we find out who this Wicked Witch is the better.”

* * *

They decided to walk to the Toll Bridge, an old bridge in the forest at the outskirts of the town. The four of them then started to scan the area for the bushes David had mentioned growing nearby. It did not take them too long to find several of them growing along an old hiking trail. Hook grabbed the bushes with his hook and shook some berries onto the ground before stepping on them.

     “You’ll look for any excuse to use that thing, won’t you?” Emma said, sounding annoyed.

     “Just to know we’re in the right place”, Hook answered, nodding at the berries on the ground to confirm that they, indeed, looked like what they had found in the Mayor’s office.

     “What now?” Wolfgang asked.

     “Now we start searching”, Emma answered. Hook suddenly met Indira’s gaze and in his eyes she saw a silent plea; a plea that she and Wolfgang would leave him alone with Emma for a while.

     “We’ll take the lead”, she therefore offered, grabbing Wolfgang’s arm and dragging him up the trail.

     “What the hell was that for?” Wolfgang hissed as they continued.

     “Just giving them some privacy”, Indira answered, releasing his arm once they had turned a corner of the winding trail. They could still hear their two companions, but now they had to strain their ears in order to catch exactly what they were talking about.

     “Privacy?” Wolfgang asked as she knelt down to seemingly inspect the ground. “You think those two are...”

     “Well, Hook’s certainly got something going for her”, Indira answered, keeping her voice low, “and they’ve been sort of tense around one another, so I figured we’d let them talk a bit without having us around.”

     Just then Emma came walking towards them, not even sparing them a glance as she walked by.

     “Looks like that worked out well”, Wolfgang muttered before following her. Indira rose from the ground just as Hook joined her.

     “Thanks”, he said. He sounded sad and did not meet her gaze.

     “I don’t know what you said to her, but you’re welcome”, she responded.

     “How come you’re helping me?” he asked.

     “While Clarissa isn’t here I guess I have to play matchmaker”, Indira mused, before her smile dropped.

     “Is she one of your missing friends?”

     “Yeah”, Indira sighed. “I just... we should have found them by now. The nine of us all showed up yesterday, at roughly the same time. Why didn’t they?”

     Hook gave her a hint of his usual grin.

     “Don’t worry, love”, he said. “We’ll find them.”

* * *

Once they had exited the forest they found themselves facing a steep, snow-covered hill. It was a strange feeling to suddenly have snow beneath your feet when it had all but melted away in the forest they had been walking through earlier. Emma took the lead, still not having said a thing since her conversation with Hook.

     At the top of the hill they found a small, white farmhouse with light green details.

     “You have to appreciate the irony”, Wolfgang said, referring to the farmhouse in the story that had crushed the Wicked Witch’s sister. Slowly they made their way up to the house and passed the barbed wire fence. Emma was the first to make it onto the porch and snuck up to peer in through the windows.

     “There’s definitely someone living here”, she whispered. “It’s empty right now, though.”

     “Why are we whispering?” Hook asked, also lowering his voice.

     “I was wondering the same thing”, Wolfgang agreed.

     “Because good hide-outs always _look_ empty”, Emma answered and started to carefully walk around the house. “Trust me, I’ve spent a lifetime tracking down people who don’t want to be found. I know about hiding out.”

     She peered around the corner momentarily before leaning back against the wall again, a movement that the others were quick to follow.

     “There’s a bike standing there”, she said.

     “Does it mean anything?” Indira asked. “Is she still here or...”

     “I don’t know”, Emma answered, shaking her head. “I...”

     She paused, her eyes sticking to something out in the field outside the barbed wire fence.

     “A storm cellar.”

     “Oh, the irony”, Wolfgang muttered. The others pointedly ignored him as they made their way down the porch and across the lawn. Indira looked back at the clear footprints they were leaving, feeling uneasy. Their visit would not go unnoticed, even if the Wicked Witch was not here right now.

     The entrance to the storm cellar itself was a small square concrete block with a metal door and a black pipe made for providing those locked inside with air. Although now the door was not locked from the inside; it was locked from the outside with a heavy padlock. Indira was about to suggest that they just leave, because if the door was locked from the outside someone could not be on the inside, but then she realized that the person they were dealing with was the actual Wicked Witch of the West. Locking a door in this manner would probably not be too hard to do.

     Emma pulled out her gun, readying herself for shooting the padlock to pieces in order to break into the cellar.

     “Woah, wait”, Hook said, placing his hook on her arm. “It’s one thing walking around a deserted farmhouse, quite another thing to descend into a one-way cellar with no other way out.”

     Emma smiled in amusement, but lowered her weapon.

     “Scared?” she teased. Hook sighed.

     “There’s a difference between fear and strategy”, he pointed out. “We know she’s got these flying monstrosities; who knows what’s down there?”

     “I agree”, Indira said. “If this witch is as powerful as we think we could use some back-up.”

     “Magical back-up”, Wolfgang filled in.

     “Unless you’ve been practicing in New York City”, Hook finished off, looking at Emma.

     “Wait, you can do magic, too?” Wolfgang asked.

     “A little, but not enough for this”, Emma sighed and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Regina, have her drop Henry at _Granny’s_. Let’s see if those flying monstrosities can get passed her crossbow.”

     “Granny’s got a crossbow?” Wolfgang gasped.

     “You know, a little less excitement about every single thing we reveal about ourselves might do you good, mate”, Hook pointed out. Emma suddenly frowned.

     “There’s a voice message from David”, she said, pressing the screen.

     “Emma, it’s David”, the voice said through the speakers. “I’m at the trail now and I think I found her; the Wicked Witch. I’m going after her.”


	13. White Moss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _7 months prior_  
>  The Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
> 
> In which people start to question Rachel and Prince David's closeness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there is a two month leap between the previous flashback chapter and this one. I know it wasn't in the show, but it felt appropriate here.

“Guys, look what I found!”

     The others gathered in the library of the Dark Palace looked up. Clarissa was grinning from ear to ear as she marched up to the table and placed the heavy volume on it.

     “Guess what this is.”

     “A Ravenclaw’s bedtime story?” Wolfgang suggested.

     “No”, Clarissa said, shaking her head, “this is the ultimate lexicon about fairy wands, and take a look at this.”

     She flipped the book open, causing another thud, and spun it around for them to read. Catriona, who was sitting closest to where the book had been dropped, leaned forward.

     “Ollivander, the maker of the finest fairy wands, was banished from the land after being found selling wands adapted to a new way of magic, centred around oral spells and made for humans”, she read.

     “Let me have a look at that”, Toby said, pulling the book to him and re-reading the line Catriona had just read.

     “So in this world he is real, which means it might actually have been him that we met back in Orlando”, Maryse said.

     “Yes, question is how we find him again”, Toby said and pushed the book away. “This book is quite old and he was banished before it was even written. It is highly possible we won’t find him anywhere we look.”

     The doors opened and Rachel came in, dressed as she always was nowadays in riding gear and with a sword attached to her belt. Miranda wondered if she knew how different she had really acted since they got here or if she was busy living the life of one of her own stories’ characters.

     “Have you found anything?” she asked and removed her cloak as she sat down.

     “Ollivander was banished for selling wands to humans”, Clarissa responded. “He could be anywhere.”

     “I can ask David if they can send out word about him”, Rachel suggested. “Someone’s got to know something.”

     “If he has stayed hidden this long I doubt word of any kind of royalty would make him appear again”, Indira pointed out.

     “And when did you and Prince Charming start to talk about each other on a first-name basis?” Arianne asked. Rachel blinked in surprise.

     “I agree; for the last two months you’ve been spending basically every waking hour with him”, Miranda said. “What is going on?”

     “It’s not my place to tell”, Rachel responded, her voice sharp. “He’s my friend.”

     “And we’re not?” Filipi asked. “Face it, Rachel; you’ve changed since you got here.”

     “And none of you have?” Rachel bit back, rising again. “Just listen to yourselves! Why am I suddenly the one who’s odd?”

     “Because you’re hanging out with a married man more than you hang out with us”, Jade responded. Rachel blinked at her.

     “Is that what you all think is going on?”

     When no one answered she grabbed her cloak once more, fastening it around her neck.

     “Well then, thank you for your time”, she said, her tone colder than ice, before she spun around and marched out of the library. Miranda bit her lower lip and nervously fingered the quill in front of her, before she rose and followed her friend.

     Outside the door, however, she bumped into a man; Robin Hood.

     “Apologies, my lady”, he said. “I did not hear you coming.”

     “No, no, it’s my fault, really”, Miranda answered with a smile. “Where you heading to the library?”

     “Actually I was trying to find Rachel”, the outlaw responded.

     “She just left”, Miranda responded, then frowned. “Why were you trying to find her? I thought you two weren’t that close.”

     “Well, I doubt we are, but she is close to someone else; Prince Charming”, Robin answered, “and he left the castle not long ago to venture into Sherwood Forest.”

     “Did he ask you to tell Rachel about it?” Miranda asked. Robin shook his head.

     “No, in fact I think he hoped I would not. However, I feel that she might be needed during his quest.”

     “And this quest is what?” Miranda asked. Robin gave her a slight smile.

     “Now that is for him to tell”, he said. “If you find Rachel, will you please tell her what has happened?”

     “Sure”, Miranda answered, then watched as the thief disappeared down the corridor. She, however, headed in the opposite direction; aiming for the courtyard. After living in the castle for nearly five months she and the others knew their way around the dark corridors perfectly and if there was one place Rachel would seek out to vent her anger it was the training grounds, located between the courtyard and the stables.

     As she closed in on said place she could hear that she had been right as the sound of a sword hitting a training doll rang time and time again.

     “Rachel”, Miranda said as her friend took a step back. She did not turn around.

     “Why are you here?” she instead responded, her voice still cold as ice.

     “I’m sorry”, Miranda responded. “It was not right of us to attack you that way, but please; look at it from our point of view. How do you think we’re feeling every time you go off with Prince Charming instead of help us investigate why we are even here?”

     Rachel kept her back towards her, but something in her posture told Miranda that she was not ignoring what she had just said.

     “It’s complicated”, Rachel eventually responded and walked over to the nearby bench, picking up a cloth to wipe her face with. “David and I have sort of bonded and he’s in a bit of a situation right now, so I’ve offered to help him through it. I did not mean to abandon you guys.”

     “I know”, Miranda said. Rachel looked up at her and a hint of a smile was playing on her lips.

     “You really thought I was having an affair with him?”

     “Well, you did act suspicious”, Miranda responded. Rachel shook her head with a smile.

     “I can assure you that’s not the case”, she said. “He’s a married man, he has a daughter and a grandson and a baby on the way. If there’s one thing I won’t do it’s break up someone’s family.”

     Miranda nodded.

     “There’s another thing as well”, she said and stepped forward. “Robin Hood told me that Prince Charming had left the castle not long ago, to venture into Sherwood Forest.”

     Rachel frowned.

     “Why would he do that?”

     “Robin wouldn’t say”, Miranda answered. “He did, however, say that even though Charming did not ask for you to come along, you probably should.”

     “Well, if even Robin Hood asks me to head after him then I probably should”, Rachel sighed and sheathed her sword. “Coming?”

     Miranda frowned.

     “Do you want me to come along?”

     “Call it gut feeling, but I think you’ll be needed as well”, Rachel responded as she headed towards the stables. Miranda was about to protest before she realized how futile it would be. Besides, she quite liked the idea of having at least one adventure here before they managed to get back home.

* * *

As Miranda was not as good at riding as Rachel was they opted for riding the same horse, with Miranda wrapping her arms around Rachel’s waist in order not to slide off. From studying the maps in the castle they knew that Sherwood Forest, Robin’s home, was located south of the castle, but nowhere near as close as they would have liked. By the time they spotted the forest the sun was already dipping beneath the horizon, covering the land in darkness.

     “How are we going to find him in the night?” Miranda asked, yelling in order to make herself heard.

     “I don’t know”, Rachel answered, “but I’m certainly not going to let that stop me.”

     “When did you become a Gryffindor?”

     “Well, maybe this land has brought out that side of me”, Rachel answered, before urging the horse to go faster.

     As they neared the forest they could see a well-made, wide road entering it. Not wanting to risk her horse’s health Rachel aimed for it while the night surrounded them. Except it was not all dark.

     “Look!” Miranda said, pointing to their left. Rachel whipped her head around and slowed the horse. Among the trees, not that far from the road, was a burning torch, stuck down in the ground. Close by was a white horse tied to a tree.

     “I can see his horse but not him”, Rachel said as they jumped off and walked on a narrow path to where the torch was standing.

     “He can’t be far, right?” Miranda said and looked around them. Rachel shook her head before she tied her horse next to Prince Charming’s white one.

     “What was he doing here, though?” she said and knelt down. The torch was stuck down close to a patch of white moss and, in the middle of this moss, was a hole that someone had recently dug out.

     “Maybe this”, Miranda said and picked up something that looked like a root, only when she turned it around they both saw that the top of it had been cut off, revealing a very peculiar looking flesh.

     “That looks like... stars”, Rachel said with a frown. “What is that?”

     “I don’t know, but I’m going to guess it’s something magical”, Miranda answered. A rustle among the trees caused them both to look up. The two horses snorted and trampled around.

     “Woah, it’s alright”, Rachel tried to calm them.

     “What was that?” Miranda asked. Her friend shook her head.

     “I don’t know, but it came from that direction.”

     She drew her sword and pointed it at a thick hedge of spruces.

     “David’s moved past them”, she said as they drew closer, pointing out a number of freshly cut branches, “so there’s definitely something on the other side.”

     “And you’re just going to head straight towards it?” Miranda asked. Rachel turned to meet her gaze.

     “My friends are my family, Miranda; you know that”, she said, “and I would die to protect my family.”

     “Then I’m coming with you”, Miranda said. Rachel shook her head.

     “No, you should stay with the horses.”

     “With you going all Gryffindor while we’re here, you might need some Ravenclaw to get you out of this situation”, Miranda pointed out, smiling. This caused Rachel to smile back, before she led the way through the spruces.

     Once they got out on the other side they stopped dead in their tracks, staring at what lay ahead. They were standing in a small clearing and at the centre lay a tower built out of stones. From a window at the top of this tower spilled a long, black braid of hair that reached almost all the way to the ground and climbing up this braid at this very moment was someone clad in a grey, hooded cloak.

     “This is not what I was expecting to find”, Rachel admitted.

     “Did we _ever_ expect to find Rapunzel’s tower?” Miranda asked in return.

     “Probably not.”


	14. Grey Shadow of Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> The natures of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.

Since they did not want to be holed up in the room all day, Toby, Miranda and Rachel had decided to head over to _Granny’s Diner_. It was a lively place where people originating from all possible fairytales came and went, the seven dwarves from _Snow White_ being some of the more regular guests. The waitress behind the counter whom Miranda had spoken to the night before, Ruby, had been Red Riding Hood back in the Enchanted Forest and ran the diner together with her grandmother, a stern old lady who certainly did not trust just anyone. They also became acquainted with another waitress, Ashley; the Storybrooke-counterpart of Cinderella.

     “It’s weird, isn’t it?” Ruby said with a smile as she sat down with the trio.

     “A little bit, yes”, Miranda answered. “Though somehow I’m not as uneasy at seeing real fairytale characters in earthly clothes as I thought I would be.”

     “If you were with us in the Enchanted Forest that might be a reason behind it”, Ruby pointed out, looking around the diner. “Emma will find an answer for all of this, though. She always does.”

     “Why is that?” Toby asked.

     “Because she’s the Saviour”, Ruby answered. “When the Queen cursed us the first time, about thirty years ago, Rumplestiltskin, also known as the Dark One, predicted that the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming would be the one to break the curse, but in order to do that she had to be sent away. So when Emma was a newborn baby in the Enchanted Forest, right when the curse struck, Charming brought her to a magic wardrobe and sent her away to this world. Almost thirty years later she came here and broke the curse.”

     “How did she come here?” Miranda asked.

     “Henry found her”, Ruby answered.

     “Henry?” Rachel asked with a frown. “Who’s that?”

     “Emma’s biological son”, Ruby responded, “and Regina’s adopted son. Emma gave him up at birth and Regina adopted him. Henry figured out everything that was going on here through a book with our true stories and also realized that he had to bring Emma here, so he sought her out. Of course she did not believe him at first, but she still stayed and eventually she became the Sheriff.”

     “Then where is he now?” Miranda asked. “Shouldn’t he be here as well?”

     Ruby looked pained.

     “He is. He’s just... not aware of what is happening. In order to protect him Regina removed his memories of this place before we went back to the Enchanted Forest. She did the same for Emma, so they both believed they had lived together and that Emma had never given him up. They’ve stayed in New York for the past year; that’s where Hook found them and provided Emma with a memory potion. So she remembers all of this but...”

     “Henry doesn’t”, Miranda filled in and sighed. “Poor Regina.”

     “Is there a bathroom I can use?” Rachel suddenly asked. “All these cups of tea are starting to make themselves known.”

     “Yeah, sure; just head in through that door”, Ruby responded with a smile and pointed at a door at the back of the diner. Rachel smiled back and rose, grabbing her jacket as she went. Just as the door closed Toby turned towards the two others sitting in the booth.

     “Why would she need her jacket if she’s heading to the bathroom?” he inquired. Miranda’s eyes widened.

     “Oh no.”

     As one the three of them rose and walked in through the door, finding the entrance to the ladies’ bathroom unlocked. Instead they heard the diner’s backdoor close behind the next corner of the corridor.

     “Blast it!” Toby muttered. “Never trust a writer.”

* * *

“So where are you heading?”

     David looked up with a start, finding Rachel standing on the other side of his car.

     “When did you get here?” he asked.

     “Just now”, she answered. “I saw you from the window at _Granny’s_.”

     “And somehow you assumed you could just join me, wherever I’m going?” David retorted. Rachel gave him a hint of a smile before opening the door of his truck. It caused him to groan, but he also found himself not arguing with her. Instead he climbed in behind the wheel and fired up the engine.

     “Are you going to answer my question?” Rachel asked once they had left _Granny’s_ behind them.

     “The Toll Bridge”, he responded. “We believe the Wicked Witch’s hideout is near that place; she left a Holly berry behind at Regina’s office and they only grow around there.”

     “Sounds like a good place to start”, Rachel agreed. In the corner of his eye he saw her frown slightly at him.

     “Are you alright?” she asked.

     “Yes, of course”, he responded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

     “That frown says something else”, she remarked, “but if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. It’s not my job to pry.”

     At this he actually turned briefly towards her, his frown deepening. He could swear he had heard someone say that before.

     “Alright, now you’re looking at me like I’m some ghost from the past”, Rachel pointed out.

     “I’m... that thing you just said, it just sounded so... familiar.”

     “Subconscious memory, perhaps”, Rachel said with a shrug. “Whatever this spell is that is keeping us from remembering events happening during the past year it can’t keep away possible _déjà vu_ feelings.”

     “Yeah, maybe that’s it”, David responded, focusing on the road once more. They had left the town and were now driving through the forest. As the sky had become clouded the forest surrounding them had taken on a gloomy tone.

     “You should not have come with me”, he eventually said. “It’s not even been a day since you had your head stitched up.”

     “I’m fine”, Rachel responded. “The doctor said it wasn’t a deep cut, which means the only reason he stitched it was to speed up the healing process. Besides, staying at _Granny’s_ all day would have made me beyond uneasy. An unnatural trait for a Ravenclaw, I suspect.”

     “A Ravenclaw?” David asked, frowning at her again.

     “That’s sort of how me and my friends met”, Rachel explained. “We’re fans of the _Harry Potter_ -series and we all belong to a certain house, defined in this series by a set of traits. Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are loyal, Slytherins are ambitious and Ravenclaws are logical.”

     “So you define yourself by a set of traits from a book?”

     “Says Prince Charming”, she pointed out. “And no, we do not define ourselves by those traits only. Which is why I might not be the typical Ravenclaw; I act impulsively from time to time, which is more of a Gryffindor trait. Toby would certainly not do things like this.”

     He nodded, not sure what response he should give to this explanation. Luckily he did not have to consider it as he found they were nearing the bridge. He pulled the car to a stop.

     “Rachel, I know the doctor said you should be fine, but I still think you should stay behind”, he pointed out. “This could be dangerous.”

     “Do you really think...”

     She paused, her eyes stuck on the rear-view mirror.

     “Did you see that?” she asked. He tensed at once and looked at the object. All he could see was the gloomy forest.

     “See what?”

     She hesitated, then shook her head.

     “I thought I saw something, but maybe it was just the forest playing tricks on me.”

     He still frowned.

     “Stay in the car”, he ordered and stepped out, grabbing his sword as he did. When he had closed the door he locked it, something she immediately noticed.

     “What the...”

     “Stay in the car”, he repeated.

     “You bloody cheater”, she hissed as she tried to open the door. He ignored her and walked over to the trail, finding the bushes with their red berries at once. They were in the right place.

* * *

Rachel let out multiple curses as she tried to open the door to the truck. He was good, she had to admit that; whatever it was she had seen had distracted her long enough for him to force her into staying put. She pulled at the plug in the door in order to try to force it up, but it was jammed.

     A rustling of leaves outside caused her to freeze in her movements and slowly turn around. David was moving down the trail next to the road, his steps determined, but there was one thing he had missed; a strange shadow was following him, flitting from place to place as it closed in on its prey. Her breath hitched and she looked around the car for a way out. The truck was old, she realized, and in order to open the windows you had to roll them down manually. The handle on her door was broken, which meant that if she would get out through the window she had to use the one by the driver’s seat and thus turn her back on whatever was happening on the trail.

     She looked up and saw that David has stopped, his eyes scanning the forest around him. He had felt that something was wrong, or maybe he had heard something she had not. It still caused her to crawl over to his side of the car and start to turn the handle. Slowly the window moved downwards and she growled at the pace. As she looked up she could see the shadow, which now looked more like a human in a cloak, was leaning out from behind a tree, peering it David. The look on his face told her that he had also seen it this time around. It flitted in behind the tree, vanished and then appeared behind another, closer to where he stood. The window was halfway down. She could see David reach into his pocket, taking out his phone and, while still keeping an eye on the strange shadow, dialled a number he obviously knew by heart.

     “Emma, it’s David”, she heard him say. “I’m at the trail now and I think I found her; the Wicked Witch. I’m going after her.”

     He put his phone back in his pocket and raised his sword, slowly moving towards the tree. She gritted her teeth at the window; a few more turns and she should be able to make it out without any problems. Of course she had never tried to escape a locked car this way before, but she really had no choice.

     She could hear the low thud of David’s sword hitting the tree trunk and looked up.

     “Behind you!” she yelled, noticing the shadow had moved once again. He immediately spun around to face his opponent just as she began to pull herself out through the window. With her back to the events proceeding at the trail she had no idea of what was going on, but she could hear the sound of someone hitting a tree. She gritted her teeth and moved to get her leg out of the car. This certainly was not as easy as some might make it look.

     She tumbled to the ground, feeling the asphalt scraping her palms and causing her to hiss in pain, but at least she was now out. Pain could wait. She looked up and saw the cloaked being standing over David’s unmoving body.

     “Hey!” she yelled, causing it to look up. The face beneath the hood was shrouded in darkness.

     “Leave him alone”, she ordered. The next moment David rose, turned and plunged his sword into his opponent’s chest. Nothing happened and his eyes widened. The strange creature then grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up into the air as if he was lighter than a feather.

     “Let him go!” Rachel yelled and rushed forward. She hit the strange being from the side, sending the two of them crashing to the forest floor while David went the other way, sword still in one hand as he gasped for air. Upon hitting the ground the hood fell away and Rachel, straddling the creature, hissed in surprise as beneath the hood was an all too familiar face.

     “David?”

     The creature grinned manically, before tossing her aside. She sat up, shaking her head to get the world to stop spinning. David was staring at his twin, who, in turn, stared down at him, his glare triumphant.

     “Who are you?” David asked, scrambling to his feet. The cloaked twin smiled.

     “I am you.”

     He drew a sword, identical to David’s, and flicked it in the same manner.

     “You’re going to defeat me?” the twin said, still smiling in that wicked way of his. His voice was deeper than David’s and seemed to echo, giving away that whatever he was it was not something natural.

     “Well, don’t let your fears hide the stench”, the twin continued. “The stench of a scared shepherd boy who strayed too far from his farm.”

     David gritted his teeth.

     “I’m not scared of anything.”

     He moved to attack, but his opponent parried, able to estimate every move he would make. The twin laughed as they moved to circle each other and Rachel could see that David’s eyes were wide with the fear he said he did not feel.

     “Well, if that was true, I wouldn’t be here”, the twin said with a wicked smile. David attacked again, but the twin grabbed him by his arms and forced him down on the ground, proving once again that he was the stronger one. Then, with one swift move, he cut David’s sword into pieces.

     “Don’t you see?” the twin said. “Your fear makes you weak.”

     “No”, David said and shook his head. “I’m not afraid.”

     “Saying so doesn’t make you fearless.”

     “I will die to protect my family”, David argued.

     “Everyone’s afraid”, Rachel suddenly said, causing both of them to turn towards her. She had managed to pull herself upright with the help of a tree.

     “Everyone’s afraid”, she repeated, her voice somewhat stronger than before. “Bravery comes from facing that fear, from admitting it.”

     “Cute little thing, isn’t she?” the twin said with a smile, causing both Rachel and David to frown. The next moment he was in front of her, pressing her against the tree, his hand tightening around her neck. She struggled to push him away as she felt the air supply to her lungs being cut off. The twin smiled. Behind him David roared and moved to strike his twin with the broken hilt of his sword, but the twin grabbed him with his free hand and pressed him against the tree as well.

     “Give in”, the twin said with a smile. “It’s easier.”

     David glanced at Rachel, noticing how blue her lips were starting to look. If he did not do anything now she would die and he could not allow that. Then, when he looked past her, he saw a familiar yellow bug coming down the road. Emma.

     “I am afraid”, he managed to croak out. “I’m afraid I won’t be a good father, but I won’t let that stop me. Not now.”

     With those words he plunged the hilt into the chest of his twin and, unlike the last time he had scored a hit, the twin looked stunned and released their throats. He then stumbled back and, as he did, dissolved into nothing. As his hilt fell to the ground in front of him he allowed himself to fall down on all fours, breathing heavily. Rachel had collapsed on the ground next to him, drawing deep, shuddering breaths with her eyes closed.

     “Are you alright?” he said, squeezing her shoulder. She nodded and managed to open her eyes.

     “I will be. Thank you.”

     He managed a slight smile before he reached out to grab the hilt of his sword. Just as his fingers were about to touch it, it vanished in a puff of green smoke.


	15. Blood Red Stones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _7 months prior_  
>  Rapunzel's tower, Enchanted Forest
> 
> Time to face your fears...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **NOTE: some blood and bad injuries in this chapter!**

The grey-clad hooded figure seemed to flit in and out of focus as it climbed up the black braid of hair. Up in the window someone was leaning out and, considering this person was holding a sword, Miranda guessed it might be Charming. His eyes were glued to the figure approaching him. Suddenly, something pulled him back.

     “I should never have called on you”, a female voice said. “I know what she wants; if you leave now maybe she’ll spare you.”

     “No”, Prince Charming’s voice responded. “That’s not how this works; I’m getting you back to your family.”

     “Please, she’ll kill you! You can’t save me; there’s nothing you can do.”

     “They do not know we’re here yet”, Rachel said, eying the figure moving up the tower. “None of them do; we might be able to distract her.”

     “How?” Miranda asked. Rachel met her gaze momentarily again before she jumped out of the bushes.

     “Hey! Hey, you!”

     The shape stopped moving and turned its hidden face down. It had almost reached the window.

     “Get away from them”, Rachel ordered, flicking her sword. The shape cocked its head slightly before it continued its climb. Miranda could only stare as Rachel sheathed her sword and rushed over to the tower, grabbing onto the ivy growing at its bottom to pull herself up. She had just grabbed onto the black braid when Prince Charming once again appeared in the window, bringing his sword down to strike the grey shape.

     Except it had now vanished. Miranda blinked in surprise; one moment the hooded figure had been right beneath the window, the next it was gone. Rachel also seemed to notice that something was happening and looked up.

     “David, look out!” she shouted just as the figure jumped down from the tower’s roof and swung itself in through the window. There was a loud crash as Prince Charming was knocked aside by the strange being.

     “Rachel, get down from there!” Miranda called, stepping out of the bushes.

     “No, I can’t leave him”, Rachel responded.

     “Did you not see what that thing just did?” Miranda yelled. “How do you expect to defeat her?”

     Rachel hesitated; she was halfway up the braid and now looked down at her friend.

     “I never expected to get out of this adventure alive”, she solemnly answered. “My characters never do, so why would I?”

     Miranda’s eyes widened in surprise and Rachel took this opportunity to keep climbing.

     “You’re not a character, Rachel”, Miranda called. “You’re not someone you created for a story; you’re you.”

     “In this world we’re all stories, Miranda”, Rachel responded. Voices once again spilled from the tower above them.

     “Hey!” Prince Charming yelled. “Get away from her!”

     “I am her”, a dark, echoing female voice responded, not too unlike the one that had spoken earlier.

     “Rapunzel”, Charming said after a pause, “it’s not a witch; it’s you. You said she appeared after you had the night root. You thought it didn’t work, but it did! The root allows you to overcome your fears by facing them!”

     “I can’t”, the first female voice said, sounding utterly terrified. “Please, help me.”

     “She’s your fear!” Charming called. “Only you can defeat her! You have to face her, Rapunzel; you must!”

     There was a pause before a ripping sound was heard along with a roar from the same prince. The next moment he and the grey-cloaked being tumbled out through the window.

     “Rachel, look out!” Miranda screamed, but her friend hardly had time to raise her head before the two others hit her, sending her falling.

     “Rachel!” Charming yelled and tried to grab her as he caught onto the ivy, but his fingers missed her and she crashed onto the ground, the air going out of her lungs in one loud gasp before she fell back and closed her eyes.

     “Rachel!” Miranda screamed, at the same time as Charming repeated her name. He looked conflicted, wanting to help his friend as well as rescue the princess up in the tower. When Miranda rushed forward, however, he decided to focus his attention upwards. The grey-cloaked being had begun to climb again, fast and agile.

     “Listen to me!” Miranda heard him call as she reached Rachel. “Your fear was that you could never be a leader, like your parents, like your brother.”

     As she closed in on her friend Miranda noticed that the ground she was lying on was uneven, causing her to lie in a strange position. The stones beneath her were already covered in blood.

     “Own it and you can do this”, Charming continued above her head. She dared to look up and saw Rapunzel looking down on them.

     “No, I can’t!” she cried.

     “Yes, you can!” Charming called. “Cut it away, let it go! If you do you can finally have what you want; you can leave this tower!”

     “I don’t want to leave!” Rapunzel said. The cloaked shape was climbing faster. Miranda quickly looked away from them and grabbed Rachel, turning her over. Her back had gone red and sticky and where she had landed was a sharp-edged stone that had cut into her back, leaving a deep wound.

     “I understand; believe me, I do”, Charming said above her head. “You’re frightened of an unknown future and it makes you feel safe here. But if you don’t face that future, Rapunzel, you will die here, alone! Is that what you want?”

     “No!” Rapunzel responded. Miranda pulled out her wand and tried to remember a spell that could heal gashes like the one now present on Rachel’s back, but all she could remember was the one meant to heal minor fractures. She could feel the panic closing in on her.

     “You know what you have to do!” she heard Charming yell, probably aimed towards Rapunzel but it could just as well have been for her. “Do it!”

     She did not dare to look up at him, or Rapunzel, or the creature climbing the wall. All she could see was the blood, and therefore the life, flowing out of Rachel. In the _Harry Potter_ -books she remembered that Snape had used some sort of spell to heal wounds caused by the spell Sectumsempra. However, in this dire situation she could not remember the words of it.

     “ _Vulnera Sanentur_ ”, she suddenly heard a voice chant not far behind her, causing her to look up. Someone was approaching them, wearing a thick, brown coat and pointing a wand at Rachel’s injured back.

     “ _Vulnera Sanentur_ ”, the person, a female, repeated. The sound of a sword clinking against the stone caused Miranda to look up. Rapunzel had cut off her braid with Charming’s sword and the hooded figure was sent falling down with it. When it had almost reached the ground it dissolved into nothing. Charming, who had followed the falling braid with his gaze, finally looked down at them again, worry reappearing in his eyes as he saw Rachel’s lifeless form.

     “ _Vulnera Sanentur_ ”, the unknown person repeated. The deep wound was closing and the blood was slowly clearing away. The spell was working.

     “I... did it”, a surprised Rapunzel said from the top of the tower, causing them to look up. Just then Rachel drew a deep, shuddering breath and started coughing, grimacing at the pain in her back.

     “Is she alright?” Charming called. Miranda smiled through the tears.

     “She’ll be fine”, she called back. Her gaze then locked onto the person who had performed the healing spell.

     “Who are you?”

     The person raised her hands and pulled back the hood of her coat, revealing a the face of a woman wearing earthly glasses and having short, brown hair with a fringe. Miranda’s eyes widened.

     “Ella?”

     “I thought I recognized your voice”, the other woman said, before Miranda rose and embraced her.

     “You have no idea how glad I am to see you”, she whispered.

     “I think I should say the same”, Ella said and gave her a hint of a smile.

* * *

While Prince Charming climbed back up the tower to help Rapunzel get down, the two friends busied themselves by making a bier for Rachel.

     “How did you even get here?” Miranda asked.

     “I was on my way to Orlando to surprise you guys”, Ella responded, “and then the pilot started shouting about the plane crashing. The next moment I was falling through a green vortex thing and found myself in this forest, with a fully functioning wand in my hand.”

     “How long have you been out here?” Miranda asked. Ella leaned back on her heels.

     “Three months, maybe?” she eventually said. “I befriended some villagers living nearby and they told me where I was, basically, and helped me with food.”

     “I’m glad you came when you did”, Miranda said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise.”

     Ella gave her a brief smile before levitating Rachel onto the bier. At the same moment Charming came down from the tower together with Rapunzel. The princess, dark-skinned with black hair, looked up at her former imprisonment in wonder while Charming knelt next to Rachel.

     “How did you two find me?” he asked, looking up at Miranda.

     “Robin Hood alerted us of where you’d be”, she responded, “and Rachel would not let you go alone, and I came with her.”

     “She could have died”, he said, looking down at his friend.

     “She didn’t”, Ella said, “and she probably learnt her lesson from this. Hopefully.”

     Charming huffed; he did not believe her.

     “I’ll go get the horses”, he said and rose.

     “I’ll come with you”, Ella offered. Charming eyed her for a while before he nodded, leading the way between the spruces.

     “I’m sorry about your friend”, Rapunzel said, looking at Miranda.

     “She’ll be fine”, Miranda responded. “Why did you end up in that tower?”

     “I didn’t think I could be a ruler, like the one my brother would have been, if he had not died because of me”, Rapunzel responded.

     “Do you want to talk about it?”

     The princess swallowed and nodded, determined not to flee her past anymore.

     “I was swimming in the river”, she said, “where I shouldn’t have been, the one our parents had always told us to avoid. I got caught in the wrack and my brother dove in after me. He saved me, but... but couldn’t save himself.”

     Tears were shining in her eyes and Miranda felt the need to hug her.

     “I’m sorry.”

     “I ran away, because I didn’t think I could be queen”, Rapunzel continued after swallowing down her tears, “and if I didn’t know, how could my parents believe in me?”

     “It’s who you are”, Miranda answered. “You can’t hide from it forever, or from them.”

     “Do you think they’ll forgive me?” the princess asked. Miranda smiled and stepped up to her, grasping her hands.

     “You’re their child, their precious daughter”, she said. “Of course they’ll forgive you.”

     Rapunzel slowly managed to smile back.

     “Now, do you want to return with all of this hair or should we cut off some of it?” Miranda asked.

     “I doubt it’ll be easy to ride with all of this”, Rapunzel said, looking at what remained of her braid, which was still an impressive length of hair. Miranda pulled out her wand once again.

     “Well, just tell me which length you want it to be in and I’ll cut it for you.”

     “With magic?” Rapunzel asked, obviously wary of it after her ordeal.

     “Not the usual type of magic”, Miranda answered. “Ollivander’s magic. It won’t harm you, I promise.”

     Rapunzel slowly nodded and pointed halfway down her back. Miranda slowly cut the braid and untangled what was left, brushing out the black curls with the help of her wand.

     “There”, she said with a smile. “Now you can ride.”

     At that moment Prince Charming and Ella returned with the horses. Using their wands Miranda and Ella were able to attach the bier to the horses’ saddles. With Rapunzel seated behind Charming and Ella sitting up behind Miranda they then started to make their way out of the forest, unknowing of what was lurking in the bushes close to the tower and now flew off to alert its mistress.


	16. Golden Straws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> Cages are for beasts.

While Emma parked the car over by the road David slowly sat back, trying to calm his breathing. His head was reeling due to the recent events; the strange twin he had been fighting and the fact that his sword had disappeared. Well, not entirely; the blade that his shadow twin had cut off still lay on the ground, but the hilt had vanished.

     “David”, Emma said as she hurried up to him and Rachel, who still lay on the ground, “are you okay?”

     He nodded and grasped Rachel’s arm, helping her sit up as well. Her neck was bruised and her hands bloody; not until now did he realize that she must have climbed out of his car in order to help him and had probably fallen on the asphalt in the process. Regina, Hook, Indira and Wolfgang approached them as well.

     “Well, where is she?” Regina asked, looking around.

     “It wasn’t her”, David sighed and rose, Rachel leaning against him.

     “Then who was it?” Hook asked. “You two look whiter than fresh sails.”

     “Myself”, David responded.

     “Come again?” Wolfgang and Hook said at the same time, then looked at each other in surprise as they realized what they had done.

     “It’s the Witch”, Regina said. “She’s toying with us.”

     “Did you guys find where she might be hiding?” David asked.

     “There’s a farmhouse nearby that we think is hers”, Indira answered and moved to relieve David from Rachel’s weight. To his surprise he found his grip on the girl next to him tightening; he did not want to let go. He was in charge of keeping her safe.

     The next moment he wondered why he could possibly think that and why he would not let some of her friends help out, which caused him to let go and allow Rachel to lean against Indira instead.

     “Then let’s end this”, he said, looking at Regina. “Let’s send that Witch back to Oz.”

* * *

“Any sign of the monkey?” Filipi asked.

     “None, at least not now”, Chris answered. “Have you found anything?”

     “Well, it’s an Alder tree, alright”, Robin responded. “Question now is if we were right.”

     He knelt down next to the tree in question, scouring the area close to its roots. Jade soon joined him, something he was grateful for as she had a much better knowledge of what they were looking for than he did. Also, in case the monkey appeared he had to be able to get up and fire a shot at it from the crossbow he had brought along.

     “Look”, Jade suddenly said. “Beneath that root, in the hollow close to the trunk.”

     He looked in the direction she was pointing, but at first he could not understand what she was referring to. The hollow she was inclining towards was filled with old leaves that had blown there during the winter.

     “Oh come on, you’re Robin Hood!” Jade groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re blind.”

     She reached forward and brushed the leaves away, revealing a set of sticks bound together by a rope. The fact that these sticks had carefully carved out handles was what gave their true nature away.

     “Wands”, he said, finding himself grinning as Jade pulled them out. Once she did she revealed a second bundle beneath them, which she was quick to grab as well.

     “Looks like we got them all at once”, she said with a wide smile.

     “At a good time, too”, Chris said and jumped down from his stone. “The monkey’s coming back.”

     Sure enough; there was the ominous sound of large wings beating up in the air, closer and closer to the set of Alder trees they had found. Robin quickly tossed the leaves back into the hollow before leading his four companions to safety.

     “Do you think she’ll find out we’ve found them?” Tessa asked as they found a safe hide-out.

     “I don’t know”, Robin answered, “but you’ve got a way to defend yourselves now.”

     “Well, maybe not”, Jade said. The others turned towards her.

     “Seems like the ropes binding them together are enchanted”, the youngest girl answered. “We’re going to have to look for a way to untie them in order to actually be able to use them.”

     “There’s another thing as well”, Chris remarked. “Counting those of us who are still missing the total amount of wands should be fourteen, yet in these two bunches we have fifteen.”

* * *

“You could have gotten yourself killed”, Indira remarked while supporting her friend. Rachel’s legs still felt like boiled spaghetti.

     “Could you have stood by and just allowed him to be attacked?” she asked.

     “No, but this isn’t like you”, Indira responded.

     “Agreed”, Rachel responded. “It’s not how I usually act around people I barely know.”

     Indira frowned.

     “What are you talking about?”

     “We’ve lost a year of our lives”, Rachel responded, “and who knows what might have happened during that time? Most likely we met some of those people we have now met as well and became close with them.”

     “And you think you became close with him, Prince Charming, or David?” Indira asked.

     “It’s the only explanation to why I’m acting like he’s one of my closest friends”, Rachel responded. “Subconsciously I must know that I know him.”

     “Any particular reason she would send a demon that pretends to look like you?” she heard Hook ask up ahead.

     “No idea”, David answered. “It was just there, wearing my face, harping on my deepest fears...”

     Regina stopped dead in her tracks.

     “It knew your deepest fears?” she asked, causing the others to stop as well and allowing Indira and Rachel to catch up. While they stood still Rachel experimentally tried to stand without supporting herself on her friend.

     “Yeah, things I never told anyone, even Mary Margaret”, David responded to Regina’s question. Emma raised her eyebrows in surprise.

     “It wasn’t until I admitted them that I was able to defeat it by stabbing it with the hilt of my sword”, David continued.

     “Where is it?” Regina quickly asked. “Your sword, that is.”

     “Well, that’s the strange part”, David admitted. “After I killed it the hilt... it disappeared.”

     “What’s that mean, then?” Wolfgang asked.

     “When we face our deepest fears our true courage comes out”, Regina explained. “When you used the hilt of your sword to vanquish your fears, your courage transferred into it.”

     “Then why did it disappear?” Rachel asked, managing to stand on her own two feet again.

     “It didn’t disappear”, Regina responded. “ _She_ took it.”

     “Hang on”, Emma said. “The Wicked Witch _stole_ his courage?”

     “Well, a symbol of it at least”, Regina responded, “and symbols can be powerful totems.”

     “But... courage, that has something to do with the Oz-story”, Indira pointed out.

     “Yes, it’s what the Lion seeks from the wizard”, Rachel responded. “The Scarecrow wants a brain and the Tin Man wants a heart.”

     “Do you think she might be after those two other things as well?” Emma asked.

     “It’s possible”, Regina admitted, “though I cannot see what good it will do to her.”

     “We just have to send her back before she gets all three”, Wolfgang said.

     They trudged on, following the trail out of the forest and up the hill.

     “Hey”, David suddenly said, falling into step besides Rachel, “did you mean what you said before, to Indira?”

     “About us possibly being friends back in the Enchanted Forest?” Rachel asked in return. “Yes, I did. I am not someone who finds friends easily, so when I do I stick to them and I protect them just as I would protect my family. My reactions to both the event at the hospital yesterday and what occurred earlier points towards that explanation.”

     David smiled slightly.

     “Well, it would seem you haven’t lost your Ravenclaw identity after all”, he joked.

     “I do not mean to”, she responded with a smile of her own.

     The farmhouse, located up on a snow covered hill, was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, but outside this fence lay the entrance to a storm cellar. That was where Emma, Hook, Indira and Wolfgang were leading them. However, as they closed in on the door the quartet stopped.

     “That lock”, Emma said, “it wasn’t busted before.”

     Rachel looked at the broken padlock that had obviously been securing the door, before she felt David push her back. A glance from him told her to stay back while they secured the place. In the corner of her eye she saw Emma drawing her gun and Hook his sword, while Indira and Wolfgang also stepped back as they were unarmed. If even Gryffindors did that maybe it was a good idea for her to follow suit.

     David grabbed the handle to the door while Emma readied her weapon.

     “Ready?” she asked, looking around. The others nodded and David opened the door with Emma quickly pointing her gun at whatever might be waiting for them down the steep stairs.

     Nothing happened.

     “So far, so good”, Hook remarked.

     “Stay alert”, Emma ordered before slowly descending down the stairs. “Come on.”

     A gush of dry air from the inside made Rachel shiver and as she looked over at Wolfgang and Indira she could see them reacting the same.

     “There’s definitely dark magic here”, Regina said as she climbed in after Emma and David. Hook glanced at the three others, giving them permission to head into the cellar before him. As they descended down the stairs the goosebumps on their arms made themselves known again.

     When they reached the bottom of the basement they found themselves standing in a small, square room with concrete walls. Half of the room was, however, occupied by a large cage. The lock on the cage’s door was busted, just like the lock upstairs.

     “Can you feel it?” Regina continued, referring to her comment about dark magic.

     “I don’t know”, Emma answered. “Maybe. Whatever I feel it’s not good.”

     “What would the Wicked Witch keep in a cage?” Indira asked. “Monkeys?”

     “No, not monkeys”, David responded, reaching up into the ceiling and turning on a single light bulb hanging there. As the cellar was suddenly bathing in light they found themselves looking at an object standing in the centre of the cage; a spinning wheel. David reached down and picked something up off the floor. It had the shape of a straw but the colour was entirely wrong; not yellow, but shimmering like some sort of metal.

     “Now, how many people do we know that can spin straw into gold?” David asked.

     “Rumplestiltskin”, Emma whispered, staring at the item in shock.

     “Who’s Rumplestilt...” Wolfgang begun, but suddenly found himself falling backwards as the wall he had been aiming to lean against fell away, revealing another cage hidden behind an illusion. This cage, however, was inhabited, although its inhabitants were currently asleep or unconscious.

     “Oh my God”, Indira whispered. “It’s them. It’s our friends.”

     One of the inhabitants of the cage stirred and gave a muffled cry against the gag in her mouth when she noticed them.

     “Someone get the door open”, Rachel said, prompting Regina to move forward and, with a flick of her wrist, busted the lock. Wolfgang, Indira and Rachel immediately moved in and loosened the bonds and gags tying their friends down. A blonde girl flung her arms around Indira’s neck.

     “Thank God you found us”, she cried.

     “How did you all get here?” Wolfgang asked while helping the only male inhabitant of the cage get free. “What happened?”

     “Don’t know”, the other boy answered. “One moment we’re at Ollivander’s in Orlando, the next we wake up in this cage, bound and tied down.”

     “How long have you been here?” Indira asked.

     “Don’t know, it’s been dark the whole time”, another girl answered.

     “Hey!” Rachel suddenly shouted. She had moved further into the cage to the only one of its inhabitants that had not woken up.

     “What is it?” David asked, moving in as well.

     “I need some light, has anyone got a torch?” she responded.

     “Yes, I usually do walk around with one in my pocket”, Wolfgang sarcastically responded. Regina then followed David into the cage and created a fireball in her hand, causing the prisoners to move away from her.

     “What have you found?” she asked.

     “It’s Ella”, Rachel answered.

     “But... she wasn’t with us in Orlando”, Indira remarked. “How come she turned up here as well as we did?”

     “Don’t know, but she’s not waking up”, Rachel answered.

     “Any bite marks?” David asked. “We don’t want another monkey incident.”

     “Not that I can see”, Rachel responded. “There’s something else going on. We need to get her to a hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (last chapter for now, I'm gonna update the wikia before I post more)


	17. Brown Cocoa in the Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is Rumplestiltskin alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished updating the wikia for the previous batch of chapters, so here is the next one. Oh and I should probably warn you that I did cry while writing this section of the story...

After finding their friends in the Witch’s storm cellar the atmosphere in the group certainly changed. If there was one thing no one would allow it was someone hurting a fellow admin, as they called themselves.

     Doctor Whale, the counterpart of Doctor Frankenstein, checked up on all the newcomers when they brought them in at the hospital that night, with no incidents occurring like the one with Little John.

     “They’re bruised and need to rest, but otherwise they’re fine”, the doctor told the others when he had finished his examination.

     “What about Ella?” Miranda asked. Whale sighed and shook his head.

     “I’m not sure. She appears to be in a coma, which was how David Nolan spent his first twenty-eight years here due to being mortally wounded when the curse hit back in the Enchanted Forest. It is possible something similar has happened to her.”

     “But she will wake up, right?” Tessa asked. “She’s not... you know... she’s going to wake up, won’t she?”  
     Whale gave them a hint of a smile.

     “We’ll do everything we can.”

     He led the way into the closed-off area that they had been given. With the exception of Ella the other five that had been rescued – Maryse, Arianne, Rowan, Clarissa and Catriona – were all up on their feet, enigmatically discussing what had happened. After her ordeal on the hiking trail Whale had insisted that Rachel should be hospitalized for at least a day as well, just to make sure that she would not suffer from the near-death experience. Her neck was covered in bruises and both of her hands were bandaged.

     “Maybe this will teach me not to convert to a Gryffindor, huh?” she said with a lopsided smile.

     “Well, if I can be a Slytherclaw, then you can be a Gryffinclaw”, Clarissa pointed out and sat down on the side of the older girl’s bed.

     “What do we do now?” Chris asked.

     “We get some sleep and then we can figure out a plan that does not involve people nearly being killed”, Toby responded.

     “Good luck with that in this town”, Jade chimed in.

* * *

Early the next morning the phone on the table close to the door vibrated. It was Emma’s old phone, which she had dug up so that they would have at least some means of communicating. All of their phones must have been lost in the vortex bringing them to the Enchanted Forest or sometime during their possible adventures there. Indira, having slept on a mattress close by, reached up and plucked the phone from the table, reading the message.

     “They’re having a meeting at _Granny’s Diner_ in thirty minutes”, she said as the others woke up as well.

     “Who are _they_?” Rowan asked.

     “Well, the text is from David, so I’m guessing him, Mary Margaret and Emma, probably Regina, and since Emma will be there I’m also including Hook”, Indira responded.

     “No, we were supposed to stay here and plan”, Toby pointed out. “Not rush off on some new adventure without...”

     “I’m guessing you’re volunteering”, Wolfgang interrupted, causing Toby to stare at him.

     “What? I...”

     “Good, so Toby’s going to _Granny’s_ ”, Rachel said, trying to hide her amused smile. “Anyone else?”

     “We could go”, Maryse said, inclining towards herself and Arianne.

     “And I’ll go as well”, Indira finished off and rose. “Four should be quite enough for this meeting.”

     With Toby still gaping like a goldfish and trying his best to form a coherent sentence the three girls pulled him out of the hospital room and in the direction of _Granny’s_. They met Emma Swan on the doorstep, quickly introducing her to Arianne and Maryse before being let in by Granny. The diner was filled with the smell of breakfast; bacon, scrambled eggs, freshly brewed coffee and bread roasting in the oven.

     “If you want privacy, talk fast”, Granny remarked as she locked the door behind them again. “We open in twenty and no one gets between Leroy and his bacon.”

     As the newcomers looked around they could see that Indira had been right in her guess of who might be there; David was standing at the back, Mary Margaret was sitting on one of the high chairs by the counter, Regina has placed herself by one of the tables in the middle, and before they came in Hook had been leaning against the doorframe. He now straightened up and walked further into the room.

     “Any sign of our quarry?” he asked.

     “I went over that farmhouse and the land around it, but nothing”, Emma responded, seating herself by the counter as well.

     “You spent the whole night out there?” Indira asked, looking at the Sheriff.

     “Well, as much as I could”, Emma responded and gratefully accepted a cup of hot cocoa sprinkled with cinnamon from Granny.

     “Now that the sun’s up we should check every place Gold might go; his house, shop, cabin...” David suggested, walking over to Mary Margaret.

     “Yes, cause dead men certainly love vacation homes”, Emma replied.

     “Who’s Gold?” Maryse inquired.

     “The name Rumplestiltskin used in this world”, Regina responded. “In this town he is known as Mr Gold.”

     “Can someone explain to me how this is even possible?” Emma asked. “We all saw Gold, he...”

     “Disappeared into nothingness, I know”, Mary Margaret filled in.

     “So the guy we guess escaped from the other cage in the Witch’s cellar is a man you all thought was dead?” Indira asked.

     “Yeah, but I might have an inkling about what is going on”, Hook responded, looking thoughtful. “When we went back to the Enchanted Forest, Neal was talking about the possibility of getting his father back.”

     “What, how?” David asked, with a frown.

     “Who’s Neal?” Arianne asked.

     “Gold’s son”, Regina responded, her tone short, signalling she thought they were interrupting Hook’s story.

     “He didn’t know how, he just...”

     The pirate paused in his answer and looked at Emma, his face changing from thoughtful to sad.

     “He missed his family”, he finished. Emma quickly looked away, her expression also sad.

     “He was desperate to find a way to this world”, Hook continued, “and he believed that bringing his father back was the key.”

     “Well, if that was his plan, then obviously something went wrong”, Emma said. “Gold might be alive and kicking but Neal... he’s... we don’t know what he is. We don’t even know if he made it back to Storybrooke; no one’s seen him since this new curse.”

     “He’s out there somewhere”, David promised.

     “With all due respect we have bigger issues right now than _who_ brought Gold back”, Regina pointed out. “The fact that he was in the Wicked Witch’s basement for one, and I want to know what the hell she was cooking up with him. And since none of her other prisoners were aware of what was going on...”

     She turned to look at Arianne and Maryse, who squirmed slightly under the intensity of the Mayor’s gaze.

     “Well, the best way to find that out would be to ask Gold, right?” Mary Margaret said.

     “He could tell us who the Witch is, maybe how to track her down”, David agreed. Regina rose.

     “I’m going to head back to that farmhouse”, she said. “It’s possible this Witch left behind some trace of potion or a special ingredient.”

     Emma gave her a slight smile.

     “Have at it”, she agreed. “Just be careful.”

     Regina looked amused.

     “Well, she’s the one who needs to be careful”, she said as she pulled on her gloves. “She invaded my space; when I return the favour, I’m not pulling any punches.”

     She then walked out of the diner, head held high and heels tapping the floor.

     “Shouldn’t anyone else go with her?” Arianne asked.

     “Regina knows how to handle things like this”, Mary Margaret responded. “If she had wanted someone to come with her she would have said so.”

     “What about the rest of us then; what’s the plan?” Indira asked.

     “We should head over to his shop, talk to Belle about all of this”, David responded.

     “Belle?” Maryse asked. “You mean Belle from _Beauty & the Beast_?”

     “Yes”, Emma answered. “She and Gold were lovers and if anyone knows the answers to how he could have come back to life, it’s her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes; more new characters. Don't be afraid to ask questions of they confuse you!


	18. Sea-Green Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby meets a very strange woman...

In a corner close to the end of the town’s main street lay a wooden, two-story house painted in a matte turquoise colour. Above the door to the house hung a sign; _Mr Gold, Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer_. A bell chimed as they entered and, almost immediately, a short, brown-haired woman appeared from a room in the back. She stopped at once when she saw them.

     “Emma”, she said, acknowledging the presence of the Sheriff, “have you found something?”

     It occurred to Toby that, unlike most of the other fairytale characters they had met so far, this woman spoke in a distinctly Australian accent.

     “Belle, can we talk, in the back?” Emma asked. The brown-haired woman nodded and walked back in behind the counter, leading the way to what seemed to be a storage room, filled with items from far and wide, along with a ton of books.

     “Did you find her?” Belle asked, sitting down on a chair next to a desk.

     “We found where she might be hiding, yes”, Emma answered, “but that’s not all. In a storm cellar next to her house we... we found a cage.”

     Belle frowned.

     “A cage? For what?”

     Emma looked at David who, in turn, pulled out what looked like a straw but shone like pure gold. He handed it to Belle, who stared at it in utter surprise.

     “Rumple”, she whispered. “He’s alive? How is that even possible?”

     “We were hoping you might be able to tell us that”, Emma answered. Belle looked up at her.

     “You know him and this shop better than anyone”, Emma clarified. “If he’s in Storybrooke there has to be a clue somewhere as to how he got back or how we can find him now that he is.”

     Belle nodded.

     “Yeah, I’ll... I’ll start looking right away.”

     “We can help you”, Arianne suggested. “I’m Arianne and this is Maryse, by the way.”

     “Thank you”, Belle said with a smile.

     “Keep your eyes out for him too”, David suggested. “If he comes into town...”

     “He’ll come to me”, Belle filled in. “I know.”

     Toby hesitated, wondering if he should stay as well. It certainly seemed like the better idea to help run some research in a shop than run out in search for the Wicked Witch.

     “I will stay here with you”, Hook suddenly said, sounding less than excited about it. Belle turned towards him with a surprised stare.

     “I’m surprisingly good at research”, the pirate continued.

     “You will stay with me?” Belle questioned. Hook gave her a smile, which looked extremely goofy considering he, at the same time, raised his eyebrows.

     “He’ll protect you if the Witch comes”, Emma said.

     “Do you know he tried to kill me?” Belle asked, turning towards the Sheriff again.

     “Well, there were extenuating circumstances”, Hook argued. Belle rolled her eyes before turning back towards him with a knowing smile.

     “Twice”, she pointed out. Hook paused before trying his best puppy-face.

     “Sorry?”

     “You really know how to charm a girl, don’t you?” Indira said. Hook gave up on his facial expression and leaned back again.

     “Alright, then this will be my way of making it up to you”, he said, giving Belle another goofy smile. The brown-haired woman did not look at all amused.

     “Fine”, she still agreed after considering the offer.

     “Alright, well, we should head out into the woods”, Emma said, moving to rise from her chair. Mary Margaret did the same, but David reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

     “Maybe you should stay home”, he suggested. The pregnant woman frowned at him.

     “Me?” she asked. “But I’m the best tracker here!”

     “I know, but we’ll manage”, David responded. “Remember what Zelena said; you need your rest.”

     “I can stay here with you”, Toby found himself saying. “Or I can help you get home and then get back here and help with research.”

     “Well, look who’s volunteering”, Maryse said with a smile.

     “Thank you”, Mary Margaret still said. Emma smiled slightly as well before she cleared her throat and walked up to Belle.

     “Belle”, she said, “thank you for your help. Don’t worry; we’re going to find him.”

     “Okay”, Belle said with a smile. “Thank you.”

     With that Emma, David and Indira disappeared out from the room. The door to the shop opened, causing the bell to chime as they walked out again.

     “Well, we should get going, then”, Mary Margaret said, rising from the chair. Toby nodded, still not sure why he had offered to take her home. She was Snow White; even in her state she would be perfectly capable to get from this place to her apartment without him walking with her. And what could he do if they were attacked?

     He remained silent during their walk to the small apartment complex Mary Margaret and David lived in.

     “Well, looks like we made it in one piece”, Mary Margaret said as they walked inside the apartment. “Do you want something to drink?”

     “No, I should probably head back to the store and help with the research”, Toby answered. Mary Margaret suddenly grabbed his arm.

     “Please, stay. At least until Zelena gets here.”

     “Who’s Zelena?” he asked.

     “Our midwife”, Mary Margaret answered. “I have to call her and ask her to come here; I’m starting to freak out.”

     “About what?”

     She moved to pick up the phone from the table and dialled a number.

     “I haven’t felt the baby move in a while”, she answered. “That shouldn’t happen, should it?”

     “I... I don’t know.”

     He watched as she waited for whoever she was calling to pick up the phone and then listened as she begged that person to come over. All the while an unpleasant feeling started to make itself known inside him; something was wrong and he should know what, but somehow he did not.

     “Okay, she’s on her way”, Mary Margaret said as she hung up. “Thank you... I’m sorry, I do not know your name.”

     “Toby”, he responded. “I haven’t really been out adventuring as much as the others; it’s not my thing.”

     “Well, you were certainly gallant to offer to help me get home”, Mary Margaret said with a smile. “Are you sure you do not want anything to drink?”

     “No, I’ll be fine”, Toby responded. “I’m still trying to process what is going on in this town.”

     Mary Margaret studied him for a while before she smiled again.

     “I may have just the thing.”

     She walked in behind the stairs and opened the wardrobe, rummaging through it for a while before pulling out a large, leather-bound book. On the front cover, written in stylised letters, were the words _Once Upon a Time_.

     “These are our stories”, she explained as she placed it on the table. “At least up until the first curse was cast. It was what Henry used to understand what was going on in this place and help bring Emma back here.”

     Curiously he opened the book, finding page after page of colourful images and long, intertwined stories so unlike the ones they had grown up hearing.

     “I guess when we were sent back here it came back to me, since Henry was no longer aware of all of this”, Mary Margaret continued, looking sad.

     “It might clear a few things up”, Toby said. “Thank you.”

     He had hardly finished the sentence when there was a knock on the door. Mary Margaret immediately walked over and opened it, letting in a woman with long, curly, ginger hair, red lips and sea-green eyes. She was wearing a black hat and a matching, black poncho while carrying a paper-bag filled with groceries.

     “Wow, you got here fast”, Mary Margaret remarked.

     “Well, I could hear a little panic in your voice”, the woman responded, her accent British, as she walked over to the counter, “but I am here to tell you that there is no need to be anxious when you haven’t felt your baby move for a while. It doesn’t mean a thing.”

     Her gaze stuck on Toby and her head tilted slightly to the left as she regarded him.

     “And who might this be?”

     “Oh, this is Toby”, Mary Margaret said with a smile. “He accompanied me back home. Toby, this is Zelena, the midwife.”

     “A pleasure to meet you”, Zelena said and walked over to him, extending her hand. He gave it a quick shake.

     “Pleasure’s all mine”, he said, causing her to smile widely at him. The unpleasant feeling in his stomach made itself known again as he looked at her and if he did not know better he would say he did not trust this woman. But that could not be right, could it? If David and Mary Margaret, the counterparts of Prince Charming and Snow White, trusted her then certainly he should be able to trust her as well, right?

     “Well, I brought just the thing for you, Mary Margaret”, Zelena said and walked back to her grocery back, pulling out a bottle of orange juice. The pregnant woman looked at it in surprise.

     “Orange juice?”  
     Zelena smiled and pulled out a glass from the cupboard.

     “Trust me”, she said. “You see, babies move less right before you go into labour, so it’s possible you’re closer to delivering than we think.”

     She held out the glass, now filled with orange juice, to Mary Margaret, who accepted it as she sat down next to the kitchen island.

     “Maybe I’m just anxious because of everything that’s going on”, she said, “with preparing for the baby, I mean.”

     “And the Wicked Witch”, Zelena filled in. Toby raised his gaze from the book he had once again been reading. From what he knew the fact that the one they were chasing was the Wicked Witch of the West was still a secret for the majority of the town’s population, just because of that no one knew who she was. Then how come Zelena knew about it?

     “Everyone in town’s talking about it”, the ginger-haired woman now said. “Information like that spreads fast. Have you found out anything more about her?”

     “No”, Mary Margaret answered, “and I’m cooped up here while everyone else is working hard to find her.”

     Toby closed the book and picked it up from the table.

     “I’m going to head back out”, he said. “Now that your midwife is here I’m sure everything will work out.”

     “Yes, thank you so much for coming with me”, Mary Margaret said with a smile and moved to get up.

     “No, no, sit down. You’re pregnant and you need to take it easy.”

     “Well, what a young gentleman you are”, Zelena said with a smile. He looked up at her, feeling the unpleasant feeling spread in his stomach again.

     “Take care of her”, he said, staring into her sea-green eyes. He did not mean it as a threat but somehow it sounded like it, as if he was going to come back and tear her apart if she did not make sure Mary Margaret was alright. How he was going to do that was something he had no clue about.

     “Thank you again for the book”, he said to the seated pregnant woman. “Hopefully it will bring some order to the chaos in my head.”

     “Good luck”, Mary Margaret told him as he turned and walked out through the door, hurrying down the steps and back out onto the street. Not until then did he feel like he could breathe normally again. Whoever that Zelena, however they might have possibly met back in the Enchanted Forest, he did not like the feeling of having her around.

     “I need my wand back”, he muttered as he made his way down the street back to the pawn shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I changed Zelena's eye-colour a bit. It sort of worked better.


	19. White Sheet of Paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A man from the past returns.

At the hospital things progressed at a slow rate. Ella was not showing any signs of waking up, making the others in the room tense and uncertain. They all had a go on the enchanted ropes binding their wands together – at least now they understood why there were fifteen wands and not fourteen – but they would not budge and cutting them left no marks at all. In a way it seemed like the only way to get the bonds off was to break the wands, something they were, of course, not willing to do.

     Rachel had somehow acquired a sketchbook and a pen and was busy drawing things on the blank sheets of paper with her forehead wrinkled. Every now and then she would pause, study what she had drawn or written and then scratch something out before continuing.

     “What are you doing?” Catriona eventually asked.

     “I’m trying to understand exactly what is going on”, Rachel responded. “Considering we don’t have all the facts, unlike the real inhabitants of this place, it’s turning out to be a bit harder than I thought.”

     Catriona walked over and sat down on the side of the bed occupied by the older Ravenclaw. In the sketchbook she had propped up against her knees she had written all of their names, along with several names belonging to Storybrooke inhabitants, and also the words _Courage_ , _Heart (Love)_ and _Brain (Mind)_.

     “The Wicked Witch stole a symbol of David’s courage yesterday”, Rachel said, pointing at a line she had drawn between the name _David Nolan_ and the word _Courage_. “If this theory is correct she’s going to go after somebody else’s mind, or brain, and a third person’s heart, which I’ve translated to love.”

     “And you’re trying to figure out who they might be”, Catriona filled in. Rachel nodded.

     “Like I said, it would have been much easier if we had all the background facts, including what happened here during the past curse. I mean, Regina isn’t even known as the Evil Queen anymore, so something must have happened that changed who she was.”

     “You think we might be possible victims of whatever she’s going to do next?” Catriona asked, pointing at the list consisting of their own names.

     “It’s an idea, though I’m not sure”, Rachel answered. “She must want us for something since she held you guys captive, but she already had the wands, so that’s not it.”

     “Well, whatever she’s after we’ll figure it out soon enough”, Filipi said, walking up to them as well, “along with actually untying our wands.”

     “I can’t believe we actually have wands”, Clarissa remarked. “Like, does this mean we’ll be able to use them when we get back as well?”

     “Who knows?” Chris responded with a shrug. “We just...”

     Commotion out in the hallway cut him off midsentence and caused everyone, except for Rachel, to stand up and look out through the glass wall at what was happening. A body was being rolled into the opposite room, followed by Hook, Maryse, Arianne, Toby and a short brunette whom no one on the other side recognized.

     “If it’s another monkey I’m going to freak”, Jade remarked.

     “No, they wouldn’t bring another case like that in here”, Rachel responded. “It’s too dangerous. This guy’s got something different.”

     “And he’s awake”, Tessa remarked, standing by the windows next to Chris. When she looked over at him, however, she found his eyes distant, sad and surprised at the same time. She placed a hand on his shoulder, waking him from his thoughts.

     “Chris, are you alright?” she asked. He blinked multiple times.

     “Yes, I’m...”

     He looked at the man now moving, on his own, to a hospital bed in the other room and being attached to an IV.

     “I’m just certain I’ve met that guy before.”

* * *

“Neal”, Emma said as she rushed into the room, followed by David and Indira. “You’re here. What happened?”

     Neal Cassidy removed his hands from his face, which he had been rubbing as the new guests entered, and turned to look at her.

     “I don’t know”, he admitted. “I remember seeing the yellow bug cross the town line, and next thing I know I’m running around in a forest back in Storybrooke where, apparently, there’s been a whole lot going on.”

     Hook, standing on his right, looked up at Emma as well.

     “Are you going to tell him or shall I?” the pirate asked. Neal frowned.

     “Tell me what?”

     He looked from Emma to Hook and back again, but the one who eventually answered him was David.

     “Neal, we think your dad’s back.”

     “Back?” Neal asked, blinking as he tried to process what he had just been told. “I just watched him die; what do you mean he’s back?”

     “Take it easy”, Indira ordered, causing him to focus on her instead.

     “Who are these people?” he asked, looking at her, Toby, Maryse and Arianne. Toby was clutching a large book to his chest.

     “They’re victims of the new curse, even though they’re not fairytale characters”, David answered. “We’re trying to help them get back home as well.”

     “But how can my dad be back?” Neal asked, seemingly accepting the explanation David had just given him. Emma was about to answer when her eyes caught a strange-looking symbol burned into his right palm.

     “What the hell is that?” she asked.

     “No idea”, Neal responded. “It was there when I woke up.”

     Emma quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the symbol.

     “Belle, can you do some more research?” she asked. The brown-haired woman nodded.

     “Yeah, sure, absolutely.”

     “I’ll send you the picture.”

     “Guys, can we... can we have a minute?” Neal asked, indicating at Emma.

     “Yeah, of course”, David quickly answered. Indira watched as Hook shared a quick glance with Emma before they all moved out of the room. Toby immediately led the way into the one on the opposite side of the corridor, where the rest of the gang had watched the events through the glass.

     “Alright, I need background information; who is that?” Tessa asked as they entered.

     “The son of the man we think was locked up in the empty cage in the Witch’s basement”, Indira answered. “He’s been missing ever since the others woke up here.”

     “And what’s his story with Emma?” Wolfgang asked.

     “He’s Henry’s father”, David responded. “Neal, or Baelfire, as he was called back in the Enchanted Forest, tried to persuade his father to quit using magic by bringing him to this world, but his father, Rumplestiltskin, refused in the last minute, causing Neal to be transported here on his own.”

     “So he came here before the first curse?” Miranda asked.

     “He did”, Hook answered, looking conflicted. “Only he did not remain here for long; he ended up on my ship close to Neverland after grabbing on to Peter Pan’s shadow. I took care of him for a long time, making sure Pan did not get him, but in the end... we decided to go our separate ways. He allowed Pan to get him and I went back to the Enchanted Forest.”

     “You mean he’s one of the Lost Boys?” Chris asked.

     “Not quite”, Hook responded. “He never joined them. In fact, before we had to venture to Neverland a year back he is the only one who has been able to leave without Pan’s permission.”

     “And then he met Emma”, Rachel guessed. “What happened to them? Why didn’t they stay together?”

     “He left her”, David responded. “It’s probably better if she tells...”

     “Alright, Toby, what is it with that book of yours?” Maryse asked, interrupting him. “I’ve been wanting to ask since you came back to the shop, but I guess we got a bit distracted.”

     David frowned as Toby placed the book down on an empty bed.

     “It’s Henry’s storybook”, he said.

     “It doesn’t look like any storybook I’ve ever seen”, Miranda said, sitting next to it on the bed. “What’s it about?”

     “Our pasts”, David responded.

     “AJ, I could kiss you!” Rachel exclaimed from her bed. “Finally some answers.”

     “Your wife gave it to me”, Toby explained to David. “She said it might help us understand what is going on here.”

     “Good idea”, David agreed. “Maybe there are clues hidden in there as to who the Wicked Witch is as well.”

     “You think her story’s included?” Tessa asked.

     “Maybe”, David responded. “I’m not sure.”

     He looked up and saw Emma exiting the other room, signalling that she and Neal were done talking.

     “Do you still want to come along?” he asked, looking at Indira.

     “Count me in”, she answered. “The more eyes the better.”

     “Yeah, and we should get back to the shop to do some more research”, Arianne said. “I guess Belle left at once.”

     “I’ll stay here”, Hook said, to everyone’s surprise. “Someone’s got to keep an eye on Neal.”

     “You’ve got an entire room of people across from him perfectly capable of doing that”, Miranda pointed out.

     “Well, maybe research just wasn’t my thing”, the pirate responded. “Besides, you lot are going to be busy reading up on history. Keeping an eye out won’t be your first priority here, love.”


	20. Green Jell-O and Quilted Jackets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neal and Hook have a talk and Regina meets a famous outlaw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next one are sticking very close to the script - the scenes were great as they were and did not need further involvement from new characters ;)

Neal studied the strange mark imprinted on his palm. It had the shape of a triangle and outside every one of its three sides was a wave, equal in length to the side it was mirroring yet very different thanks to its shape. He wondered where he could possibly have received such a mark and why.

     A knock on the door leading into the room caused him to look up. In the doorway stood a young man, probably in his early twenties. He had ginger hair and a hint of a smile played on his lips.

     “Hi”, he said. “You’re Neal, right.”

     “That’s right”, Neal answered. “Who are you?”

     “I’m Chris, I’m one of the people who should not be cursed but somehow is”, the man responded and stepped inside the room. “Two of our friends are hospitalized in the room right across from here, so we sort of made it our headquarters.”

     Neal nodded, regarding him with utmost curiosity. Chris seemed familiar in a very strange way, almost as if he should know exactly who he was but every time he tried to grasp at the memory it slipped through his fingers like water.

     “I probably shouldn’t be here”, Chris remarked, “but it’s just... I’m sure I’ve met you somewhere before and, for some reason, I feel sad thinking about it.”

     Neal frowned.

     “I feel something like that as well”, he admitted. “Were you and your friends with us in the Enchanted Forest during the year we don’t remember?”

     “We think so”, Chris answered. “People are acting strange around people they’re not meant to know, like I am right now, so it’s probably the answer to why we recognize each other... but I still don’t know why I feel so sad when I see you.”

     Neal felt like he knew the answer and he wanted to scream it out at him, but somehow the words got stuck midway and not even he knew what he was meant to say.

     Fortunately he did not have to consider it for long because Hook appeared, carrying a bowl of green Jell-O, which he placed on the table next to Neal’s bed.

     “Thought you could use some sustenance”, he said. Neal smiled in amusement.

     “Nothing like a green blob to get the appetite going.”

     “Well, I gather it has... great medicinal properties”, Hook said, waving his hand at the dessert.

     “I’m going to use that argument next time I’m sick”, Chris said. “I think I’m going to go get one of those of my own; are they available down in the cafeteria?”

     “Yeah, sure”, Hook answered and watched as the ginger boy disappeared out through the door.

     “So, they put you on babysitting duty, huh?” Neal asked, drawing his attention. “No one trusted me to stay here?”

     “Well, we thought it best if you weren’t out in the cold running after your father”, Hook responded. Neal nodded.

     “Thank you, by the way.”

     “What, for playing nanny?” Hook asked with a frown.

     “For getting Emma the message to come back”, Neal clarified. Hook’s constant smile faltered somewhat.

     “You would have done the same”, he remarked and forced the corners of his lips up again.

     “Yeah”, Neal said and glanced down at the mark on his palm once again. “What’s it feel like to play the hero after being a pirate for so long?”

     “Unfamiliar”, Hook admitted. “And you; how does it feel to play the villain?”

     Neal raised an eyebrow at him.

     “Oh, I’m the villain now?”

     “If you truly had a hand in bringing your father back, I suspect you had to use the darkest of magic and paid an even darker price”, Hook answered, “though I’m sure you felt the ends justified the means.”

     Neal considered his words before he grabbed onto the IV-drop and pulled it out of his arm with a hiss of pain.

     “I should be out there looking for him”, he said and swung his legs over the side of the bed, “to set things right, with him and my son.”

     He grabbed his long coat and walked around the bed, only to find the notorious pirate captain blocking his way.

     “Question is, are you going to stand in my way?” he asked. Hook fired off his general smile.

     “I am in your way”, he remarked. Neal studied him in silence, wondering how he could best walk past him, before Hook suddenly moved forward and wrapped his regular arm around him, giving him a bone-crushing hug. Neal frowned in surprise, unable to return it properly as he tried to understand what was happening.

     “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, his voice somewhat muffled by the fact that he was speaking into the pirate’s leather-clad shoulder.

     “This is long overdue”, Hook responded and, slowly, pulled back. Neal was surprised to see that he had tears in his eyes.

     “Sometimes when I look at you, all I see is a man”, the pirate said. “I forget, then... beneath it all you’re still that boy, the one I looked after all those years ago.”

     Neal swallowed, feeling as if he was once again a young teenage boy sailing the waters outside Neverland onboard the _Jolly Roger_ , with Hook, no, Killian Jones teaching him how to steer among the waves.

     “I haven’t forgotten”, he said, managing a smile.

     “We got caught up in so much nonsense over... a woman.”

     The pirate blinked to keep the tears at bay and Neal felt the urge to hug him once again. For the past few months, not counting the lost year that he could not remember, they had been fighting over Emma, when they were really friends. Good friends, at that.

     “I need to do this, Killian”, he remarked. “You know that, right?”

     Hook nodded.

     “You have ten minutes; then I’ll alert the others that you’ve gone.”

     Neal smiled and squeezed his shoulder in thanks.

     “Thank you.”

     With those words he passed him and, with hurried steps, walked out of the hospital.

* * *

Regina’s choice of high-heeled boots might not have been the best thing to wear when scouting the perimeter of the farmhouse. At least the snow had melted away over night, but that still did not mean it was easier for her to walk on the uneven ground. However, she was and always would be the Queen, and the Queen did not arrive without her style.

     She had been up here for almost an hour now but found no traces at least on the outside of the house or down in the basement of where the Witch might have taken off, what her plans were or what she had been doing while staying here, except for keeping a few prisoners. For someone as impatient as Regina Mills such a result almost made her give up and she was walking down the driveway, away from the house, ready to do just that.

     That was when she heard a twig snap behind her. It caused her to stop and turn around. She doubted it was the Wicked Witch; she would not be so careless or cowardly as to not step out and face her opponent. More likely it was one of her winged monkeys. Regina quickly prepared a fireball in her mind, which would materialize in her hand the moment the beast appeared.

     “Show yourself, you winged freak!” she ordered. She had hardly finished the sentence when a man stepped out from behind the thick bushes between the house and the sheds and fired an arrow at her from a crossbow. Reflexively she moved aside and caught the arrow in her hand – it was, after all, not the first time someone had done this towards her. It still caused her temper to flare, though, and she turned her head to glare at the man. He raised his hand, palm facing her, as a sign of peace.

     “Apologies, my lady!” he called, his accent British. “I thought you were the Wicked Witch.”

     While he spoke she was surprised to find him walking towards her. He certainly had a nerve, but then again, she did not recognize him; maybe he did not know her, either.

     “And I thought you were a flying monkey”, she called back at him, sounding annoyed. He lowered his head as if bowing slightly towards her.

     “I do hope my mistake hasn’t cost me my head, Your Majesty.”

     “So, you know who I am?” she asked, feeling surprised. The man had now almost reached her and she studied his appearance as he took the final steps; thick, light-brown hair, a matching, well-tended short beard and moustache, slightly tanned skin probably due to spending time outdoors. He wore sturdy boots, a dark shirt, a green scarf around his neck as if he was in the Wild West, and on top of it all an open green, quilted jacket. In a way she actually thought he looked quite handsome.

     “Your reputation in the Enchanted Forest proceeds you”, he now said, stopping in front of her with a cheeky grin.

     “I didn’t catch your name”, she remarked.

     “Robin of Locksley, at your service”, he responded and held out his right, glove-clad hand towards her, palm upwards and thus most likely not asking for a handshake but for her to hand back the arrow she had caught. She considered not to do so, but then something spurred her into continuing this discussion with him. Also, the name _Robin of Locksley_ rang many bells in her mind.

     “A thief”, she thus remarked as she placed the arrow in his hand.

     “Well”, he said as he placed the arrow back in its quiver, “as we’re tossing labels around aren’t you technically known as the Evil Queen?”

     Her smile faltered while the teasing glint in his blue eyes grew.

     “I prefer Regina”, she said, her voice harsh. It only made him smile, which made her curious; she had never met anyone who would banter with her like this and not get annoyed or angry. Who was he, really?

     “You think you can bring down the Wicked Witch with sticks?” she asked, indicating at his crossbow. Robin of Locksley, also known as Robin Hood, was after all a skilled archer; maybe insulting his skills would remove that teasing glint and smile from his eyes and face. He looked down at his weapon, hesitating, before answering her.

     “Well, I’m certainly going to try.”

     He looked back up at her again, his blue eyes meeting her with defiance. He was serious about what he was saying.

     “I’m afraid we’re too late”, she remarked, hoping he would take the bait and leave her to her own investigation. “She’s long gone.”

     “Well, perhaps she left a trail”, Robin responded. The fact that he even thought of that, the same thing she had been thinking about, took her by surprise.

     “I was hoping the same thing”, she admitted.

     “Well, then you’ve got yourself a partner.”

     She stared at him, gazing into his blue eyes and wondering why the depth of them made her feel dizzy. In the end she had to evade them, by any means, and the only one she could come up with was to walk around him in order to get closer than he was to the farmhouse.

     “I don’t remember asking for one”, she said.

     “You didn’t”, he said behind her back, causing her to stop and slowly turn. To her surprise she saw his eyes dropping down her body and then, with a new, cheeky smile, return to meet her own. Was he checking her out? The intensity of his gaze caused butterflies to appear in her stomach; she had not had butterflies in her stomach for she did not know how long.

     “Just... don’t get in my way”, she warned, feeling a smile creep up on her own face.

     “I wouldn’t dream of it”, he responded. Those words, they sounded so strikingly familiar when spoken in that tone, with that voice, with that accent, that her smile faltered once more.

     “Have...” she begun with a frown, “have we met before?”

     He smiled at her before he answered.

     “I doubt I’d ever forget meeting you.”

     There it was again, the cheeky smile where he pulled up only one corner of his mouth in her direction. It set her off balance and made her want to avoid his gaze.

     “Unless, of course, it was during that pesky year no one can recall”, he said, walking past her and allowing a scent of pine forest hit her nose, “which is all the more reason to find this Witch.”

     She smiled as she followed him towards the house and found him turning towards her with a smile of his own as he continued to talk.

     “Perhaps she can offer some insight into our lost memories.”


	21. Amber Love Potion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some strange meetings...

Unlike the day before, when the cold weather and cloudy sky had rendered the forest gloomy, it now looked like any other forest you might visit; completely harmless. Of course after spending a few days in Storybrooke Indira knew that that was not exactly the case. On their way out to a new trail, which would lead them in the opposite direction than the one leading to the Witch’s farmhouse (as they believed Gold, or Rumplestiltskin, to be fleeing from there), David had even given her a small dagger to use in case they were attacked. Apparently he had learned that if they came along they certainly needed to be armed with something. He himself had opted for a sword, not his usual one as it had been demolished and partially stolen by the Witch, but a sword none the less. Emma, of course, went along with her gun.

     “So, how was Neal?” David asked, aiming his question at Emma.

     “It was... hard”, Emma admitted. “Henry makes it complicated, it’s not just about me. He’s hoping Gold can help bring his memories back.”

     “That would be an added bonus to finding him”, David admitted, probably referring to the fact that previous attempts at breaking the memory spell by replicating the same potion Emma had been given in New York by Hook to cause her to come back and help out had failed. Indira purposely walked a few steps ahead of them, letting the pair have their father-daughter talk. It still felt strange to think of them like that, like father and daughter, as they looked to be about the same age, but since time had stopped for the inhabitants of Storybrooke during the almost thirty cursed years they first had lived there did not age, while Emma, living elsewhere thanks to being saved from the curse, followed the regular aging pattern.

     “Would it?” Emma now asked. “A couple of days ago I would have thought that was true, but now...”

     She hesitated.

     “Now what?” David asked. “How’s he going to stay in Storybrooke without them?”

     There was a pause and Indira struggled with the temptation of turning back to look at them.

     “Unless you’re not planning to”, David eventually said, letting out a sigh. “You think you’ll go back to New York after we break the curse?”

     “A week ago, Henry and I were playing video games and eating fruit roll-ups”, Emma responded. “Now I’m chasing after the Dark One hoping he can help me find the Wicked Witch of the West.”

     Indira froze in her steps before Emma had finished speaking, an agonized cry sounding among the trees. Emma and David stopped as well.

     “This way”, Indira said and took off.

     Not far from the trail they saw the shape of a man. He was on his knees, trembling and grasping at his head with his right hand.

     “Gold!” Emma called, running up to the man. “Are you alright?”

     “No”, the man said, before raising his voice to a scream. “Not alright, not alright!”

     He looked up, waving his hand at Emma to stop her from coming any closer. Indira studied him with a mixture of fear and surprise; he did not look like a man supposed to be an expert in magic, especially dark magic. In fact he looked fragile; not too tall, skinny, shoulder-length, brown-grey hair, high cheekbones, a pointy nose and long fingers. His dark suit jacket hung loosely over his shoulders.

     “I can’t quiet the voices”, he now cried and grasped at his head again, seemingly close to tears. Emma knelt as close to him as she would dare, slowly in an attempt not to frighten him.

     “We know that you were held captive by the Wicked Witch”, she said, her voice calm. “Do you know where she is?”

     The man, who apparently was known as Gold in this world, nodded.

     “Yeah, she’s... she’s...”

     He cried out in agony again.

     “There’s no room!” he cried. “No room! There’s too many voices! Too many voices!”

     “We’ve got to get him out of here”, David said, moving forward.

     “No!” Gold said, though his voice was drowned in the cry of a flying monkey closing in on them. David immediately drew his sword and hit the creature on its left wing, sending it crashing to the ground behind Gold. Despite this it rose quickly. While Emma pulled out her dagger and readied it for a shot, Indira drew her dagger, wondering what she would be able to accomplish with it. David moved forward, slashing at the beast with his sword. During this commotion Gold got up and ran past them, away from the monkey and down towards the trail. Both Emma and Indira looked from his fleeing shape to David.

     “He’s getting away!” Indira called, alerting the fighting man. He looked back at them.

     “I’ll hold it off”, he said, slashing at the monkey once more. “Go!”

     Emma glanced at Indira once more before she secured her gun, holstered it and started running after Gold. Indira looked down at her dagger, at the monkey and then in the direction that Emma had run. With a roar she then flung the dagger forward, narrowly missing David and hitting the monkey square in the chest. It screamed in pain and flew back, before it rose into the air and swiftly flew away from them. David turned towards Indira with a surprised stare, one she hardly noticed as she was staring after the monkey.

     “How did you...”

     “I’m going to pull a wild guess and say I learned that during this year we can’t even remember”, Indira interrupted. “Come on, let’s go find them before it comes back.”

* * *

Calling Regina Mills, this realm’s name for the Evil Queen, an interesting woman would be an understatement. First of all Robin could not believe her choice of clothes; a pair of high-heeled boots, a tight skirt, a clear-blue scarf and a long, grey coat did not play well with scouting out a house in an attempt to find a Witch. Then again, it did show him something else; she was a very attractive woman.

     After going through the few rooms within the farmhouse they ended up back in the kitchen, where Regina immediately started to investigate the containers by the stove marked out as containing various spices. A few at a time she brought them over to the table and inspected them, probably using some sort of magic to determine if they were in fact magical ingredients in disguise.

     “Nothing useful here”, she eventually said though, pursing her lips in disappointment. He quickly turned his gaze from her face to the container in her hand.

     “Unfortunately”, she muttered as she placed it down on the table between them.

     “So, none of these contain magical properties?” he asked, indicating at the shelf behind them, which was now as neatly arranged as it had been before they came. Regina straightened up.

     “Well, a good witch covers her tracks”, she said as she walked around the table. He did not know why but for some reason, despite not having the need to do it, she walked so close to where he was standing that their shoulders touched.

     “But a better one”, she continued, her breath tickling the hair on his neck as she leaned over towards him, “can uncover them.”

     He turned with her as she passed, following the scent of her perfume, feeling more intrigued by this woman than he had ever been before. Was she flirting with him? It certainly felt like it and, he had to admit, the banter they had shared previously outside the house had been oddly teasing. Well, he now thought as his eyes swept down her coat-covered back, two can play this game. He leaned back against the table as he took in the sight of her bending over forwards to study every single container on the shelf once more.

     “We’ll find her”, she said, unaware of his thoughts, “just be patient.”

     The word caused him to smile; for some reason he did not see her as a patient woman. He could even hear it in the tone of her voice as she uttered that certain word. The best thing to do would be to draw her attention somewhere else, he thought to himself, smiling even wider.

     “You know, I’ve heard many stories about the great and terrible Evil Queen”, he begun, his eyes once again travelling down her back, “but from this angle the evil moniker seems somewhat of an overstatement.”

     She stopped, not straightening up completely but her movements clearly showed that she was listening.

     “Bold and audacious, perhaps”, he said as he slowly pushed himself up off the table again, “but not evil.”

     She turned and the smile she gave him made him smile back. A warm feeling wrapped around his heart and he reflected back on what she had asked him outside the farmhouse; did they know each other? Had they met during the year they had now forgotten?

     “The name served me well”, she now said, tossing her hair aside instead of raising a hand to push it away from her face. “Fear is... quite an effective tool.”

     He did not really reflect on what he was doing next; his eyes were glued to hers as he found himself walking forward, invading her personal space. Her red lips parted and her eyes darted down to look at his mouth, then back up to meet his gaze again. She was beautiful, he thought, but there was something more about her as well. He had not felt like this for a woman since... well, since Marian died.

     The thought of his late wife caused him to move aside in the last moment, reaching past her, still so close that their scents mingled with every breath of air he inhaled, and grabbed a bottle standing on the lowest shelf.

     “What about this?” he asked, pulling back but still standing so painfully close to her. Truly, if he wanted to he only had to bend forward and brush her lips over hers, and the same, obviously, counted for her.

     “Is this magical?” he clarified. She seemed to tear her gaze away from his eyes, focusing on the bottle in his left hand.

     “Not exactly”, she responded, tapping the cork of the bottle with her finger, “but it is a liquid that can conjure courage, give strength or... even act as a love potion of sorts.”

     His eyebrows shot up. Was she insinuating what he thought she was insinuating? Then, suddenly, her face broke into a wide grin, showing that she was teasing him.

     “It’s called whisky”, she explained, “and no, it’s not magical. Especially the next day.”

     “Oh”, he said, smiling in realization at exactly what he was holding in his hand. He swiftly moved the bottle over to his right hand and, reaching past her once again, grabbed two glasses from the top shelf. As he pulled back he gave her a face that he hoped conveyed exactly what he wanted to ask her.

     “You want to have a drink?” she asked, frowning at him. “Now?”

     He smiled and turned around towards the table with his goods.

     “Well”, he said as he placed it all down and pulling up the sleeves of his jacket, “in the last few days we’ve survived a curse, woken up in an entirely new realm, and forgotten a year of our lives.”

     He unscrewed the cork of the bottle and poured the amber liquid into the two glasses. He then screwed the cork back on and turned towards her with her glass placed in the palm of his right hand. She was smiling widely at him.

     “I’d say we’ve earned it”, he said as he reached it out towards her. “Wouldn’t you?”

     She looked down at the glass, about to accept it, and then, all of a sudden, her smile faltered. Her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something but all she could do with her face was to convey her utter shock. What it was that shocked her, however, he did not know and it made him worried.

     “Is something wrong?” he asked. Without looking up to meet his eyes again she pushed past him, hurriedly making for the door, her right hand moving up to clutch her chest.

     “Regina!” he called after her, but she was already gone. He was left standing in the Wicked Witch’s kitchen with two glasses of whiskey in his hands. Swiftly he downed them both before putting the bottle back where he had found it, not caring that it was now containing significantly less liquid than before, grabbing his crossbow and rushing out through the door only to see Regina vanish into the forest below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I am a major Outlaw Queen shipper, just so you know, and you should have heard the sound I made when I first saw this scene)


	22. Silver Cutlass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _11 months prior_  
>  The Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
> 
> Chris meets an unexpected friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this flashback chapter takes place _before_ the ones with Charming and Rapunzel!

If anyone had told them that instead of enjoying their time at the _Wizarding World of Harry Potter_ in Orlando they would be recruited to a resistance army set to destroy the Wicked Witch of the West, well, no one in the group would have believed this person. After spending some days trying to get used to meeting real life fairytale characters wherever they went, Chris had decided that he was most likely dreaming. Probably because it seemed the easiest thing to do, as the second explanation involved them all actually being transported from one world to another, something that could only happen in stories such as the ones Rachel had written and posted on the page for the rest of them to read. No, he was most definitely dreaming. He could not be living in a large castle built out of black stones and be wished a good morning by Snow White every time he went to eat his breakfast.

     Since this was a dream, however, he decided that he should make the most of it and took Robin Hood up on his offer to teach him how to do archery. Certainly being taught how to fire arrows at a target properly by Robin Hood could not happen anywhere but in his head?

     “Chris!”

     He blinked and looked up, realizing he had released an arrow without aiming it properly due to being lost in thought and thus sending it straight into the ground. Robin Hood walked over to him with his usual frown plastered on his forehead.

     “What were you thinking about?” the outlaw asked. “One shot like that when we’re under attack and you will most likely be dead.”

     “It won’t happen again”, Chris assured him. Next to him Jade snorted.

     “Dream-theory again?” she asked as she drew back the string of her bow.

     “You’re a Gryffindor, Jade; you’re meant for these sort of things”, Chris answered and took out another arrow from his quiver. Jade’s arrow sizzled off and hit the target, although it was not dead centred.

     “Well, you might be a Hufflepuff, Chris, but that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy this”, she pointed out. “Think Cedric Diggory!”

     Chris muttered something inaudible at her before firing his own arrow. It sizzled by the target and stuck to a tree behind it.

     “I’m done for the day”, he announced and walked over to their trainer. Robin Hood accepted the bow and quiver, before giving him a worried look.

     “Are you sure you’re alright, Chris?” he asked.

     “Fine”, he responded, before walking back up the grand staircase to the upper courtyard. In the sunlight the palace did not look too dark, except for its spiky appearance, but rather nice to live in. Since it had once belonged to Snow White’s father he supposed it had not always been known as the Dark Palace; that had been after Regina became the Evil Queen. Now he was not sure what to call her, which seemed to apply to everyone else as well. From what he had heard she had had to give up her son in order to save everyone else and bring them back here, which could explain her sour mood and isolation, though he was surprised he had been able to come up with such a plot, since this had to be a dream.

     Entering the castle once more he bumped into Rachel, Filipi, Indira and Wolfgang, off to a sword-and-knife-wielding session.

     “Got bored with Robin’s teachings?” Wolfgang asked.

     “No, I’m just tired”, Chris responded.

     “So you won’t come with us, then?” Rachel asked. He shook his head.

     “No, but thanks for asking. I’ll see you all later, alright?”

     They parted ways and he continued his walk, not sure where he would end up or where he was aiming. Eventually it was the sound of someone grunting in a room to his right that made him stop and take a look.

     Inside the room was a man clad in brown clothes, his brown leather jacket discarded on a nearby chair while he moved through the room, taking a stance against imaginary enemies with a cutlass. Chris frowned; he had not seen anyone else wield such a weapon here. Those that had swords had regular once, not cutlasses.

     “Hi”, he said when the man paused, knocking on the door. The man spun around, raising the cutlass slightly but then lowering it again.

     “Hi”, he said, frowning. “What are you doing here?”

     “Wandering about”, Chris answered. “I heard you and, well, I became curious. How come you wield a cutlass?”

     The man blinked at him before he smiled slightly.

     “What’s your name?” he asked.

     “Chris.”

     “I’m Neal, but people around here sometimes call me Baelfire.”

     Chris stepped inside the room. It seemed to be a originally meant for councils, but all tables, benches and chairs had been pushed to the side. Neal walked over to one of these benches and picked up a piece of cloth, wiping his face with it.

     “So, you didn’t answer my question”, Chris said when he put it down again. “How come you wield a cutlass while everyone else has regular swords?”

     “Because I didn’t get mine here”, Neal responded, studying his weapon. A shadow of sadness passed over his face.

     “Then where did you get it?”

     “You’re one of those we picked up on the way here, aren’t you?” Neal asked in return.

     “Yeah, so?”

     “Well, you don’t seem to know my story”, Neal responded. “Everyone else does.”

     Chris frowned and Neal slowly sat down on the bench.

     “They know me because of who my father is, or was”, he explained. “The Dark One.”

     “I’ve heard that name”, Chris admitted and sat down as well. “He was some sort of dark wizard, wasn’t he?”

     “Yeah, sort of”, Neal said and looked down at the cutlass. “To be honest, he was a good man once, before he sought a way to protect me from being drafted to join the army. That’s how he became the Dark One; he killed the previous one carrying this title and the powers were then transferred to him. After that he always picked power over love.”

     He paused, turning his weapon in his hands.

     “I tried to make him come with me to a world without magic, but in the end he refused and I went alone through a portal”, he explained.

     “Where did you go?”

     “London”, Neal responded, “and after that; Neverland.”

     “Wait, Neverland is a real place too?” Chris asked, eyes widening. “Did you meet Peter Pan?”

     “I did, but he was not like people think he is”, Neal said, sounding grim. “Pan was cruel and did nothing but play games with people, no matter what was at stake, but it wasn’t him I met first.”

     He flicked the cutlass again and Chris looked at it, considering his statement.

     “Pirates have cutlasses, don’t they?” he asked after a while. “You got this one from Captain Hook, didn’t you?”

     “Yeah”, Neal agreed. “Killian Jones is his real name, though, and he took me onboard his ship. He taught me a lot of things; to sail, to travel using the stars... he was a good man and still is. In a way he was a better father to me than my own, for a while.”

     He rose and swung the cutlass with great precision, telling Chris that in a battle Neal would make a formidable opponent.

     “So Hook’s the hero and Pan’s the villain?” he asked. Neal smiled slightly in amusement.

     “I wouldn’t say that, but Killian has certainly proved that he has a good heart, a much better one than Pan had.”

     “How come you talk about Pan in past tense?” Chris asked. Neal stopped, his back towards him.

     “Because he’s dead”, he answered after a while.

     “Dead? How?”

     “My father killed him, and himself, in order to save everyone here”, Neal responded, flicking the cutlass again. “In the end my father proved himself a hero.”

     Realizing that the man in front of him had recently watched his father, who appeared to have been quite a bad person, sacrifice himself for the sake of others made Chris uncomfortable. He was not sure what to say; a simple “sorry” did not seem to be enough.

     “And now I’m stuck here while the woman I love and my son are back in the other world, having completely forgotten about who I am”, Neal continued, swinging the cutlass around to mark certain words. During one such swing it stuck to a table, causing the man to stop and inhale deeply.

     “I’m sorry, I did not mean to say all of that”, he muttered.

     “Well, I guess you needed it”, Chris responded and rose, “and I’m happy to listen. You’re the most interesting person I’ve met here so far.”

     Neal’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

     “Thanks, I guess?” he said. Chris grinned and held out his hand for him to shake.

     “Whenever you need to talk about these things, just tell me, alright?” he said. “And I guess my advice to you regarding your son; maybe you can get back to him. If we got here when people said all gateways were closed, then you might be able to find a way to get back.”

     Neal looked thoughtful.

     “Yeah, maybe.”

     “Could you teach me how to use that?” Chris then asked. “It’s the first weapon I’ve seen anyone use that I actually feel like I might be good at.”

     Neal considered it for a while, before nodding, his lips curving up in a slight smile.

     “Sure. Here.”

     For the next thirty minutes Neal taught him how to use the cutlass; how to balance it, swing it, strike and parry, and to Chris’ delight it was indeed a weapon he felt very comfortable using. Despite his fondness for bows and arrows due to his family history the weight of the cutlass in his hand felt much more like him.

     “Good job”, Neal said, patting him on the shoulder when they walked out, “and thanks again, Chris.”

     “No problem”, Chris said with a grin, “and I meant what I said; if you ever need to talk, or in a while maybe need a fencing partner, tell me. Alright?”

     “Yeah”, Neal agreed with a smile.

     “Also”, Chris said, “I should probably thank you as well.”

     “What, for teaching you how to use a cutlass?” Neal asked in amusement.

     “No”, Chris responded, “but for showing me that maybe this isn’t a dream after all. My mind could never have conjured up the kind of story you told me, so maybe I’d do best to believe it’s all real.”

     “Well, belief is a very strong thing”, Neal agreed, before waving goodbye and walking off.

     The next day Neal left with Belle without leaving a message to anyone about where they were going.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when the inhabitants of the castle woke up due to someone banging on the door.

     “Let me in!” a female voice cried as they hurried to the door from various rooms and corridors. “Let me in!”

     “Belle?” Snow White said in surprise, allowing Charming to open the door. The brunette stumbled inside, out of breath, her hair in a mess and her clothes torn.

     “What happened?” Snow White asked. “Where’s Neal?”

     Chris watched as the woman shook her head, fighting back her tears. He felt as if something cold had gripped his heart.

     “He’s... gone”, Belle eventually managed to respond. “Rumplestiltskin... he...”

     “Wait, are you talking about _the_ Rumplestiltskin?” Miranda asked. Of course she knew about him; she and the other Ravenclaws had probably used the castle’s library to learn everything there was to know about this place.

     “He’s back”, Belle said, swallowing hard again. “Neal resurrected him, but... but...”

     “Oh Belle, I’m so sorry”, Snow White said, embracing the other girl. Chris felt his grip around the banister tightening before he swiftly turned and marched back up to his room.

     “Chris!”

     It was Catriona. He stopped to let the other girl catch up.

     “Did you know Neal?” she asked. “Are you alright?”

     “He was the first person that I felt a connection to here”, Chris answered, his voice sharp. “The first person that made me think this wasn’t a dream. How do you think I feel?”

     Catriona stared at him in surprise and he took the chance to march into his room and slam the door behind him. Something then rattled down from the top of the wardrobe; Neal’s cutlass. Surprised he picked it up and found a note attached to it. _Take care of this_ , it read, along with Neal’s name. The sight of the weapon and the man’s name in written form made his knees buckle and he fell down on the floor, crying himself to sleep on the cold stone.


	23. Son of Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> A terrible discovery.

“There’s just something here that doesn’t make sense”, Clarissa said while flipping through the storybook Toby had brought.

     “Except for the fact that all stories are suddenly intertwined as one?” Wolfgang asked.

     “Yes, except for that”, Clarissa groaned. “It’s that Zelena-woman Toby met who bothers me.”

     “If it is because she’s not in the book, don’t worry about it”, Rachel said, scribbling things in her notebook as they went along. “She’s probably not mentioned by name due to being a midwife, but now that they’re all real I suppose she needs a proper name.”

     “Well, true, but I agree with Clarissa”, Miranda said. “Just hearing that name makes me feel... I don’t know, uneasy.”

     “That was how I felt when I met her”, Toby admitted. “Something’s not right about her, something we should know.”

     Jade sat down on the bed as well, glancing briefly at the storybook before bouncing up again.

     “Well, if you Ravenclaws are done pondering over a book, would you mind trying to help us get these ropes off of our wands?” she asked.

     “We’ve been at it since yesterday, Jade”, Miranda responded. “None of us can do it, so we’ll have to figure out if someone else can. Meanwhile we need to understand as much as possible about who people are in this town in order to understand why they act the way they do.”

     “Hey.”

     They looked up and saw Chris standing in the door of the room, holding a bowl of Jell-O in his hands.

     “Where did you get that?” Tessa asked.

     “The cafeteria”, Chris answered. “Where’s Neal?”

     The others looked across the corridor into the other room, finding the previously occupied bed empty. Hook was, however, standing outside the door.

     “Don’t know”, Rowan said. “I never saw him leave. Maybe you should ask Hook?”

     “I heard you, mate”, the pirate pointed out. “Your friend hasn’t closed the door yet.”

     “So, where is he?” Chris asked, turning to face him.

     “Neal went off to find his father”, Hook responded, “and I decided to let him do so.”

     Before anyone could say anything Chris dropped his bowl of Jell-O onto the floor, sending the green goo in every direction, before sprinting down the corridor.

     “What the hell was that about?” Hook asked.

     “Remember how I said I had a connection to David, which we believed was due to us being close in the Enchanted Forest?” Rachel asked. “I think Neal is the one Nick got close to, but considering the way he was running off...”

     Emma’s old phone started ringing and Tessa answered it, pressing the speaker so that everyone would be able to hear. On the display was the name _Belle_.

     “It’s Maryse”, a familiar voice said. “Guys, is Neal still at the hospital?”

     “No, he disappeared to search for his father”, Filipi responded. “Why?”

     “Because we figured out what the mark on his hand means”, Maryse answered, “and it’s nothing good.”

* * *

Maryse flipped through the thick book Belle had handed her, occasionally looking at the messy drawing on the table with the symbol they were looking for; a triangle with squiggly lines surrounding it. After being locked up for several days, though without means for counting time, it felt good to be able to do something that might help figure out what was going on, and when it came to research and finding answers in books – well, she was definitely not someone to say no to a day’s reading.

     “Wait, I think I found something”, Arianne suddenly said, placing her own thick book in front of her on the table. “This looks like the right symbol.”

     On the page she had flipped open was a drawing of a key. The top of the key was a flat circle with the symbol they were looking for drawn on it.

     “Belle, we found it”, Maryse said, alerting the older woman. She immediately came over.

     “Can you read it?” Arianne asked. “I think it’s in Latin or something like that.”

     “Yeah, I can read it”, Belle said, skimming over the page with her eyes. As she did her face turned pale.

     “What is it, what’s wrong?” Maryse asked. Belle answered by pulling up her phone.

     “I have to call Emma”, she said. She dialled a number and the other two sat in silence, waiting for her to get across. Finally the Sheriff answered and Belle wasted no time explaining what they had found.

     “The symbol on Neal’s hand”, she said, “it’s from an ancient talisman; a key, which opens the vault of the Dark One. I think he may have used it to resurrect Rumple back when we were in the Enchanted Forest.”

     Emma responded with something the others could not hear.

     “That’s where it gets unclear”, Belle answered to some question Emma had asked. “The vault will only restore the Dark One in exchange for another life.”

     “Oh crap”, Maryse said, realizing where Belle was going with all of this.

     “It’s a one-for-one trade”, Belle continued. “If Neal used that key... he should be dead right now.”

     A scream suddenly echoed over the phone, loud enough for Maryse and Arianne to also hear it, before the call disconnected.

     “Was that him?” Maryse asked.

     “Isn’t Neal still at the hospital?” Arianne asked.

     “I don’t know”, Belle answered.

     “Here, let me”, Maryse said, grabbing the phone and scrolling down the list of contacts until she found one marked with _Emma (old number)_. When the call was answered she could hear someone working on the phone, probably pressing the speaker button.

     “It’s Maryse”, she said. “Guys, is Neal still at the hospital?”

     “No, he disappeared to search for his father”, Filipi’s voice answered. “Why?”

     “Because we figured out what the mark on his hand means”, Maryse answered, “and it’s nothing good. In fact, Neal is supposed to be dead.”

     “That’s what Chris sensed, wasn’t it?” Tessa asked, aiming her question at the others.

     “Wait, what?” Maryse asked.

     “Chris rushed out when he heard Neal was gone”, Clarissa’s voice responded. “We think he might have been close with Neal in the Enchanted Forest and that he, subconsciously, remembered what had happened. He must be out searching for him right now.”

* * *

The agonized cry echoed through the forest, causing David and Indira to stop.

     “That wasn’t Gold, was it?” Indira asked.

     “No”, David responded, before setting off in the direction of the sound. As they heard no more of these cries they had to hope they were moving in the right direction to begin with.

     “Look!” Indira suddenly called, noticing a man up on a hill nearby.

     “It’s Gold”, David responded, setting off towards him. Climbing the hill they could hear someone crying.

     “You never even had a chance to see Henry. For him to remember you.”

     “Emma!” David called, rushing the last bit up the hill. Once there they were faced with Emma sitting on the ground cradling Neal in his arms and Gold standing close by, his back towards them and his face pained.

     “It’s okay”, Neal now responded, his voice weak. “He doesn’t need to. He just needs to know that... in the end I was a good father.”

     Gold turned towards them, hardly seeming to notice the arrival of David and Indira.

     “I saved this for you”, Neal continued, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a necklace, “to give to you again. Take it.”

     Emma slowly grabbed the silver chain, sobbing. The scene seemed so private that neither David or Indira made a move to speak or do anything. It was as if they were watching it all from the outside.

     “Go find Tallahassee”, Neal breathed, “even if it is without me.”

     “Neal”, Emma sobbed.

     “Hey”, Neal said, managing to smile, “I’ll be watching over you guys from somewhere... promise me, just... promise me you’ll both be happy.”

     Emma, hardly capable of speaking due to the tears flowing from her eyes, forced a smile and nodded.

     “I promise”, she whispered. “I promise.”

     She hugged him to her and, suddenly, Gold moved again.

     “No”, he said, moving forward to kneel next to them. “No, no, no, I can fix this.”

     “No, you can’t”, Neal protested, his voice barely audible for the other two. “You can’t...”

     Gold pulled back somewhat, his face constricted with unshed tears. Neal gave a hint of a smile.

     “Thank you, Papa”, he said and swallowed, trying to keep going, “for showing me... what it is... to make a true sacrifice.”

     Indira covered her mouth with her right hand and stifled a sob, causing David to wrap his arm around her shoulders in support.

     “It’s about saving... the ones... that you love”, Neal continued, his breathing becoming shallower with every word.

     “No”, Gold said, his lower lip trembling.

     “It’s my turn now”, Neal said. He reached out and grabbed the older man’s hand.

     “No”, Gold begged once more, now unable to keep himself from crying. “I don’t want to let you go.”

     “I need you to”, Neal breathed. “Please... let go...”

     Gold reached out a trembling hand and touched his face, sobbing.

     “I love you, son”, he whispered. Neal took a few deep breaths before he was able to respond again.

     “I love you, Papa...”

     With that his head fell back and his eyes stared, unseeing, up at the sky, his body relaxing completely. Emma looked up in shock, tears still streaming down her face, and David forwards to embrace his daughter. Gold raised his son’s hand to his lips and kissed it before gently pulling his eyelids closed, making it look like Neal had just fallen asleep, before dropping his hand. He turned his head slightly as he cried and spotted Indira, remaining in the same spot as before but with tears now flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks. The man in a suit slowly rose and approached her, wrapping his arms around her as also he cried over the loss of his son.

     “Indira”, he breathed between his sobs. “Indria.”

     Suddenly, footsteps were heard running up the hill and Chris appeared, staring at the scene before, as if in slow motion, falling to his knees with a sob.

     “I should have saved him”, he whispered, before covering his face with his hands.

     When none of them had any tears left to cry, Emma and David left to catch the Wicked Witch, whose name Emma had found out through Mr Gold. The other three were too numb to even react when they left, but eventually Indira managed to get her thoughts working normally again, at least as long as she did not look at Neal’s body.

     “How did you know my name?” she asked Gold. He looked up at her from the log he was sitting on.

     “You told me to remember it”, he responded.

     “When?”

     “A very long time ago”, Gold responded, “and you said you wouldn’t know me when I met you again, but you wanted me to tell you one thing.”

     “And what was that?” Indira asked.

     “That you can defeat me”, Gold answered. “Whatever the Witch makes you think, Indira, or what she makes anyone else think, I can be defeated, and you can do it.”

     “Who is the Witch?” Chris asked. He was sitting next to a tree, his face grey like ash. Gold tightened his jaw and looked at the dead body of his son before he answered.

     “Zelena.”

* * *

The news of Neal’s death and the Wicked Witch’s identity spread fast through town. After trying to ambush Zelena at Mary Margaret and David’s place, the Charmings went to Gold’s old pawnshop, delivering the grim news to Belle, Maryse, Arianne and Hook, who had returned there after Neal’s escape from the hospital. Maryse and Arianne watched as Belle broke down and cried in the arms of Mary Margaret, while Hook’s face turned to the colour of ash and David gave him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, uncertain if he should do anything else.

     Back at the hospital Rachel and Toby were currently discussing a certain section of the storybook when Chris stepped back in through the glass door. Seeing his face they, and everyone else, stopped talking, understanding without needing to hear it that the man they had seen being brought in earlier that day was no longer with them. Chris collapsed on an empty bed and stared up at the ceiling, swallowing back a few stray tears and silently wondering what his exact connection had been to the man he had now seen the corpse of.

     Regina, though she had not heard the news of Neal’s death, was instead faced with a different pain. After running from Robin Hood back at the farmhouse she had decided to go see him again, wandering to the Merry Men’s camp in the woods that they had now, once again, moved back to. Hidden behind the trees she watched as Robin played with a young boy, probably not older than five, and how he then, with a wide smile on his face, lifted the boy up into his arms. Regina swallowed and turned around without them seeing her, feeling her heart break in her chest; whatever connection with Robin she had built up in the Enchanted Forest, she did not deserve to share in his happiness, not after everything she had done.

     While all of this happened Gold stayed by his son’s side, unmoving, feeling drained from all emotion.

     “That was rather ill-timed”, a female, British voice said behind him. He did not need to turn to know who it was.

     “Your son coming to the surface”, she continued, walking past him and standing on the opposite side of Neal’s body, all black clothes and red hair, “staging that little escape.”

     She giggled her usual, manic giggle. Oh, how he hated that giggle.

     “I can see he’ll no longer be a problem”, she said and turned towards him. He did not look up at her, his eyes were glued to Neal.

     “My son may be gone”, he said, “but he gave his life, so... I could tell the Saviour...”

     She walked over Neal’s body, her shoe close to hitting him in the face. It made Gold tense and he looked up in defiance.

     “Who you really are, Zelena”, he finished, “and now it’s only a matter of time before she and the others find you and kill you.”

     Zelena’s lips pulled momentarily upwards in a mocking smile.

     “Unless, of course”, he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, “I manage it first.”

     He rose, intending to grab her by the neck, but she quickly whipped out an all too familiar dagger with a jagged blade. The magic in it sent him stumbling backwards.

     “Oh please”, Zelena said, looking perfectly innocent, “you can’t hurt me, but you’re more than welcome to try. I do so enjoy watching futility wreck a man’s will.”

     She held the dagger out in front of her again and he felt the command in his heart, making him take another step backwards and stand still.

     “There, much better”, she said. “Now that your head is no longer cluttered everything’s working properly, and it’s so much more entertaining!”

     She giggled again. He wished he was able to once again command his own body, but the dagger kept him from it and he knew it all too well. He could only hope that the others would be able to destroy the woman in front of him before he went completely mad because of it.

     “You may control me”, he said, managing to smile, “but it’s over, Zelena. They know who you are. You’ll never get close to Snow White’s baby now, to any of them, to whatever your unholy desires are.”

     “They may know who I am now”, Zelena said, stepping forward with a smile, “but it no longer matters.”

     She pressed the dagger against his cheek, the cold material making his breath hitch.

     “Not, when I have you, Rumplestiltskin. Not when I have your beautiful _brain_.”

     She smiled her wicked smile and he tried his best to fight the power of the dagger, looking at his son to draw strength.

     “So beat it, my little Dark One”, he heard her say, “and get back in your cage.”

     He fought the daggers power for as long as he managed before it overwhelmed him, forcing him to stumble in the direction of Zelena’s farmhouse. Zelena followed behind him, obviously finding everything that had transpired very amusing.

     What neither of them knew was that the conversation had been overheard. In the bushes close to where Neal had died, hidden from sight from both above, in case of monkeys, and from where Zelena and Gold had been, Indira lay listening to the conversation. Once she deemed the situation safe she quickly got up and rushed in the other direction, back to Storybrooke to tell the others of what she had heard and seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm sorry, I'm sorry)  
> This concludes the next batch of chapters. I'll try to update the wikia as soon as possible so that I can post more!


	24. Brown Dirt on a Brown Coffin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait; I've been extremely busy lately. Now here's the new batch of chapters, which stretches from chapter 23 to 29. Enjoy!

     Due to that they now knew who the Wicked Witch was everyone knew they could not push up Neal’s funeral until they had dealt with her. Already the next day they gathered at the cemetery to see his coffin being lowered into the ground. There had been talk about leaving someone behind to guard Ella, who was still in a coma, but seeing Chris’ conflicted face they had all decided to come. Whale had promised to alert them if something happened at the hospital, and just in case some of the fairies – who in Storybrooke had the shape of nuns – were also present. Filipi was not really sure what they would be able to do if the Wicked Witch actually showed up there, but it was as good as it could get.

     There were not many of them at the cemetery and thus most of the faces surrounding the newly dug grave were familiar. There was Belle, Ruby and Granny, Robin and Regina, David and Mary Margaret, Hook and Emma, but then there were a few that Filipi did not recognize. One was a blonde woman with her hair tied up in a bun on top of her head, a brunette dressed in the blue coat of a nun (meaning she was truly a fairy) and a teenage boy, whom Emma held a protective arm around. This, at least, provided some clue to who he was; Emma’s son, Henry. Filipi had heard his story from some of the others; that Emma had given him up as a newborn and he had been adopted by Regina, only to discover the truth about Storybrooke and track down Emma to break the curse. In the end, however, he had had to give up his memories of this town and his life here to save the other residents from a curse, which was why he did not seem to properly understand who it was that was being buried. Emma had told him that it was his father, yes, but the fact that Henry had actually met him before he did not remember. It made Filipi sad.

     The coffin touched the ground of the grave with a low thud and Hook stepped forward, his hook replaced by a wooden, gloved prosthetic as to not scare Henry and his face still the colour of ash, as Maryse and Arianne had seen it when he had received the news of Neal’s death. They must have been good friends in the past. With his healthy hand Hook grabbed a shovel, dug into the pile of dirt next to the grave, held it out over the coffin, hesitated, swallowed down some tears he did not want to shed in public, and then dumped the dirt onto the dark-brown lid.

     David and Mary Margaret stepped forward next, with David tossing the dirt into the grave as Mary Margaret was weeping uncontrollably. Regina followed, her face composed but her eyes sad; she might not have been a close friend of Neal’s, but he was the father of her adoptive son. Without him Henry would not have existed.

     Belle’s face was a grimace of pain as she walked forward, dumping the dirt from the shovel into the grave before sticking said shovel into the ground, as hard as she could manage, in order to stop the pain she was feeling.

     Chris was next, representing all of them since they believed he had somehow known Neal, just like Rachel somehow knew David. Just like Hook’s face Chris’ was ashen grey as he dug up a chunk of dirt and tossed it into the hole. He stood still for a few moments before returning to the others. Indira placed her arm around him, tears falling freely from her eyes, but somehow she still seemed calm. Filipi did not understand how she could do that.

     Emma and Henry shared a glance, with Emma giving her son a slight smile before he walked up to his father’s grave and tossed a small amount of dirt into it. He then handed the shovel directly to his mother. Emma stood still for a while, looking down at the coffin, shovel in her right hand while her left went up to her neck, grabbing a pendant hanging from a silver chain. Taking a deep breath she then dug into the dirt, turned back towards the grave and tossed it onto the lid.

     Granny and Ruby led the way back to the diner for the wake, the group solemn. Few of those they met did anything but nod in greeting, knowing that the sadness would otherwise overwhelm several members of the party. Drinks and food were free as of today, though few seemed to have an appetite. Zelena had to be found and stopped before more of them died due to what she was up to.

     “You’re sure she said she wanted his brain?” Filipi heard Rachel ask as she sat down opposite her in a booth, her voice low. Indira, sitting next to Filipi, nodded.

     “Positive”, she responded. “That means she only needs someone’s heart to complete the three things we think she’s after.”

     “But why would she want them at all?” Toby asked, sitting opposite Indira.

     “No idea, except for that it’s in the story”, Rachel responded, looking out over the others at the diner. Henry sitting two booths away was probably her main reason for keeping the conversation at such a low volume. David and Mary Margaret had joined him, trying to engage him in a conversation. In the booth behind between them were Rowan, Clarissa, Jade and Catriona, while the two tables close by were occupied by Maryse, Arianne, Miranda and Tessa. The only ones not sitting within hearing distance, at least if you talked at a normal volume, were Chris and Wolfgang, standing by the bar. Wolfgang was obviously trying to talk to his friend, but Chris gave some sour comment that made the darker boy glare at him and leave.

     “I did not know Chris drank alcohol”, Filipi admitted, watching him down a glass of some beverage and pull a face as it burned his throat.

     “If he does then he’s certainly not had whisky before”, Rachel remarked, somehow managing to identify the liquid from a distance. “Damn these lost memories; if we had known what happened in the Enchanted Forest we might have been able to stop Neal from dying.”

     “I doubt that”, Toby responded. “Emma said that Neal had only survived thanks to that Gold seemed to have absorbed him in order to save him, so she separated them.”

     “Separated them?” Miranda asked from the table next to their booth. “How?”

     “It would seem Emma has magic”, Toby responded, “though she does not use it much and has no real knowledge of what she can and cannot do.”

     “Do you think she’s capable of breaking the bonds on our wands?” Filipi asked.

* * *

After watching Chris down his second glass of alcohol and pulling yet another pained grimace, Tessa rose from her seat and walked over to the bar, sitting down next to him. He gave her a sullen look.

     “Are you here to tell me to stop?” he asked.

     “That would be an added bonus”, Tessa answered, “but no, I’m here to tell you to talk to the rest of us instead of sitting here alone.”

     “Talk about what?” Chris asked, sending a glare in her direction. “I don’t even remember how he and I met or if we were friends or what could possibly make me feel this miserable about him being dead. It’s not like he’s anyone of you guys.”

     “Maybe not, but he is something to you”, Tessa said, “and that’s enough of an excuse to grieve his passing.”

     The door behind them chimed, causing her to look up and watch Hook escort Henry out. Obviously he had been assigned as the boy’s protector for the day, now that they knew who he should be protected from. Tessa’s eyes then stuck to Robin Hood, who had just accepted three glasses of alcohol from the bartender on Chris’ right side and now, with a quick nod in their direction, moved behind them to stand left of Tessa. She followed him with her gaze and saw that the one he had been aiming for was Regina, accompanied by the unfamiliar blonde they had seen at the funeral. Robin cleared his throat.

     “Care for a drink?” he asked. The blonde immediately grabbed one of the glasses, seeing as Regina seemed frozen in place by the outlaw’s mere presence. Tessa wished she could move around and watch Robin’s face as he spoke, but now she had to settle for trying to interpret what he was doing from behind.

     “I, er, I do hope I didn’t upset you yesterday.”

     Chris, who had been trying to down his third glass, nearly choked on the liquid as he listened in on the conversation. Tessa was glad he had not spit it out, and maybe this would keep him from drinking more. She instead watched as Regina opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish a couple of times, before looking at the blonde by her side and finally finding something to say.

     “Robin Hood, Tinker Bell”, she said, introducing the two. “Tinker Bell, Robin Hood.”

     Robin quickly put the two remaining glasses on the disk and reached out his hand.

     “I’ve been wanting to meet you for a very long time”, the blonde said as she shook it.

     “And no, you didn’t upset me”, Regina said, seemingly struggling with words as she looked at Robin. “I just... found a clue trail that needed to be followed... one that didn’t lead anywhere, but...”

     She paused, looked around and eventually pointed at the glasses on the counter.

     “I don’t daytime drink.”

     “Oh, well, perhaps some evening then?” Robin suggested, before grabbing one of the glasses and walking back. Chris managed to wipe away the tears caused by his failed drinking.

     “What the...”

     “Shh!” Tessa ordered, kicking him to make sure he did not speak. It did not seem to help.

     “But...”

     “Just don’t talk about it, not here, alright?” Tessa ordered. “Now come; let’s go back to the others.”

     They had hardly risen from their seats when the door flew open by an unseen force and a woman stepped inside. She had long, wavy, ginger hair held back from her face through a loose ponytail, wore a pinstriped, grey skirt, a white shirt, black leather gloves and a black cape to protect her from the cold. In her right hand she held a dagger with a jagged blade.

     This was Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West.

     “My condolences”, she said, putting on a sad face. Robin, who had seated himself at the other end of the bar after leaving Regina and Tinker Bell, got up at once, his hand travelling to a knife he carried in his belt.

     “I’m so sorry I missed the funeral”, Zelena continued, “but I could never pass up a wake. Did I miss the speeches or should I make one?”

     Robin stepped closer, causing the Witch’s facade to break and she grinned triumphantly in his direction before walking away, taking the route between the tables and the booths to wherever she was going.

     “I mean, I am after all responsible”, she said. Emma, who had been standing at the back of the diner with her parents, moved forward, her face twisted with rage.

     “Emma, no”, Mary Margaret said, grabbing her daughter’s arm. “Too many people will get hurt.”

     “Listen to your mother; she’s right”, Zelena said. “Anyone who tries to interfere with my plans is going to have to deal with the Dark One.”

     She looked to her left, down at Rachel, Toby, Indira and Filipi sitting in their booth. Her lips turned upwards in a smile.

     “Hello, Toby”, she said. “How nice to see you again. I hope you are doing well.”

     Tessa thought she could hear her friend’s sharp inhaling from where she and Chris were by the bar.

     Zelena turned forwards again, taking a step towards the Charmings, which prompted David to push his wife behind him.

     “Don’t come any closer”, he ordered, his hand landing protectively on his wife’s pregnant belly. Zelena stopped with a smile.

     “Don’t worry”, she said, “I’m not here for your baby. Not today, anyway.”

     She turned to her right, facing the bar and walking between the tables to get there. Chris quickly grabbed Tessa and pulled her with him to the side in an attempt to get away. The Witch looked amused.

     “Then why are you here?” Regina suddenly asked, pushing herself up from her stool. Zelena turned, smiling widely and walking closer to her.

     “Now that my cover’s blown I can finally pay a visit to my little sister.”

     If Regina had been able to raise a quizzical eyebrow at her she probably would have.

     “Who the hell are you talking about?” she asked.

     “Why, you of course, Regina”, Zelena responded, her voice low and threatening. Still, as everyone else in the diner had fallen silent they all could hear what she said.

     “What?” Emma said, voicing everyone’s thoughts.

     “I’m an only child”, Regina said.

     “Cora lied to you, Regina”, Zelena said, raising her head in pride. “I’m your sister. Half, if you want to get technical.”

     “Why should I believe anything you say?” Regina questioned.

     “Oh, you shouldn’t”, Zelena answered. “It’s a lot to swallow, which is why I brought a gift.”

     Regina laughed.

     “I don’t want a gift from you.”

     “Oh, but you shall have it”, Zelena said, the corners of her mouth twisting upwards in a new smile as she walked closer once again. “You see, my gift to you is this sad, sad day. Use it to dig into our pasts, Regina; you need to learn the truth and you must believe it. And then; meet me on Main Street tonight, say, sundown.”

     “And then what?” Regina asked. Zelena’s face changed at once from the triumphant grin to a mask of hatred.

     “Then I’ll destroy you.”

     Regina smiled, seemingly amused at the Witch’s attempts to threaten her, and took a step closer.

     “This isn’t the Wild West”, she said.

     “No, dear; it’s the Wicked West”, was Zelena’s response, before she turned around to face everyone else in the diner, “and I want everyone to be there to see the Evil Queen lose!”

     “I don’t lose”, Regina remarked. Zelena giggled a manic giggle.

     “Neither do I”, she said and once again stepped up to Regina, “so one of us is about to make history. See you tonight, sis.”

     With a new giggle she walked towards the door and sent it flying open with a flick of her hand, walked outside and disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.


	25. Preparing for the Green Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparing the town for a Witch Fight

Most people at the wake left shortly after, mainly due to David’s orders that they had to go home and prepare for tonight. Once the “main crew” (as Jade called them) were the only ones left they seated themselves by the bar, Granny pouring Regina a glass of whiskey. David was pacing behind them.

     “And you’re sure Cora never said anything about her?” he asked.

     “I think I would have remembered my mother telling me she had a lovechild with the Scarecrow”, Regina sarcastically responded.

     “It doesn’t matter if Zelena’s your sister or not; she wants you dead”, Emma said.

     “Any idea why?” Arianne asked. Regina turned to glare at her.

     “I never even met her before today!”

     “Doesn’t mean you didn’t do something to piss her off”, Wolfgang remarked.

     “You did mention stepping on a lot of toes back in our world”, Tinker Bell pointed out. She was the newest addition to the group, sure enough, but in a way she took Robin’s place as the outlaw and his men had bowed out of the meeting due to some urgent business. Catriona could only guess what that possibly meant. Regina’s glare now turned towards the blonde fairy.

     “Well, none of them were green.”

     “Then there’s the missing year”, Granny said, jumping into the conversation uninvited. “Maybe you did something to her then.”

     “Stick to the lasagne, lady”, Regina responded, her voice crispy and cold. Granny crossed her arms over her chest but backed away from them, causing the Mayor to turn to the others once more.

     “This is starting to sound an awful lot like you’re on her side”, she remarked and rose.

     “Where are you going?” Emma asked.

     “To find out exactly what this Witch thinks I did to her”, Regina answered while putting on her black coat with fur lined, blue collar, marching out from the diner.

     “Are we just going to let her go?” Filipi asked.

     “No, we won’t”, David responded.

     “I’ll go with her”, Mary Margaret said and stood up.

     “Are you sure?” her husband asked. The pregnant woman nodded and rose.

     “Yeah, I’m good.”

     She walked out through the door as quickly as possible and the others heard her call out for Regina once she was outside.

     “Alright, me, Emma, Tink and Belle will lock down Main Street, just in case”, David said, turning towards the rest of the group. “You should decide on your own what you want to do. We’ll wait for you outside.”

     While the others left and even Granny stayed out of earshot they huddled together.

     “So, what do we do?” Tessa asked.

     “First; Toby, are you alright?” Rachel said. “You’ve not looked too well since the Witch came by.”

     “She spoke with me as if she knew me”, he responded, his voice trembling somewhat. “What if these... connections and old friendships... what if she...”

     “Woah, flashback to the _Harry Potter_ -fanfic, mate”, Wolfgang said.

     “Please tell me you haven’t started imitating Hook”, Indira groaned.

     “Toby, if your connection to the Enchanted Forest is Zelena I think you’d do best to stay back tonight”, Catriona said. “She did not look too happy when she spoke with you, more like she wanted to rip your heart out.”

     “Well, since that’s actually something she could do, according to the storybook, I agree”, Clarissa pointed out. “Maybe you should head back to the hospital, guard Ella.”

     Toby considered it before he shook his head.

     “No. Zelena said that all of us needed to be there tonight and she will notice if I’m missing.”

     “Alright, what then?” Maryse asked. “What are our options?”

     “Some of us should help close down Main Street”, Indira responded. “I don’t know if we can help Regina with whatever she has to do, but at least we can try to make sure that everyone else is safe.”

     “We can help”, Rachel suddenly said. They all turned to look at her; apart from the red scarf she had wound around her neck to cover the still fresh bruises the fight from two days prior did not seem to have left much of a mark on her.

     “What do you mean we can help?” Wolfgang asked.

     “We need to get to grips with what we might have learned in the past year, wake some subconscious memories”, Rachel responded. “Indira said she managed to hit a monkey square in the chest with a knife while David was fighting it, so we must have learned something.”

     “I doubt such weapons will be of much use against the Wicked Witch”, Miranda pointed out.

     “It’s at least worth a try”, Maryse argued.

     “Along with that we should also find someone who can break the bonds on our wands”, Clarissa said. “Those we should definitely know how to use.”

     “Alright, so some of us should go get our wands, some should hunt down some other weapons and some should lock down Main Street”, Rowan summarized. “Sounds like a good idea.”

     “Wait, there’s one more thing”, Wolfgang suddenly said. “Hook and Henry.”

     “You don’t think Hook is capable of protecting the boy?” Tessa asked.

     “I have no doubts about that, but I did hear Hook mention that he was going to talk with Henry about Neal”, Wolfgang answered. “Maybe if Chris hears some of those stories as well it can help him remember something from the Enchanted Forest. Besides, I think he needs to get away from here.”

     “They should be long gone already, but you can certainly try to hunt them down”, Indira said. “Good luck.”

     “Thanks”, Wolfgang responded and rose, pulling Chris with him as he did.

     The others soon followed out through the door where they met David, Tinker Bell and Belle. Emma had gone off to alert Mary Margaret and Regina of what they were doing. After telling the trio about their plan David directed those that would try to hunt down some weapons to Gold’s pawnshop, where Belle confirmed they might be able to find what they needed. After all that was where most things related to the Enchanted Forest had ended up. Filipi, Indira, Rowan, Clarissa and Jade volunteered to collect what was needed and meet the others at Granny’s later on. Toby, Miranda and Arianne were subsequently assigned to head back to the hospital and try, once again, to break the bonds on the wands or find someone who could.

     “Maybe Regina could do it?” Jade suggested, but Belle shook her head.

     “No. She’ll need all her strength to face the Witch later.”

     This left Rachel, Maryse, Tessa and Catriona to help closing down Main Street, the long street running through the centre of the town.

     “Question is where the fight is going to take place”, Catriona remarked as they walked along.

     “Somewhere with a lot of space”, Belle responded. “Zelena wants an audience, after all.”

     “Where would that be, then?” Rachel asked, looking down the long asphalt line.

     “Outside the Clock Tower”, David responded after some consideration. “It’s the widest of the crossroad sections.”

     They walked up to the building in question, pale yellow and also hosting the town’s library, according to a sign on the wall. Thanks to the large, panelled clock tower residing on its roof it also made it one of the highest buildings in all of Storybrooke.

     “We’ll position someone there, there and there”, David said, pointing up on roofs of buildings surrounding the crossroads they had now reached. “The whole street will then be covered.”

     “I’ll talk to Blue, see if we can get...” Tinker Bell started, but was interrupted by the return of Emma and Mary Margaret.

     “Zelena said no interference”, Emma pointed out. “She’ll probably order Gold to level half the block if we try something before she gets a crack at her sister.”

     “So they really are sisters?” Tessa asked.

     “Regina found a letter in her vault confirming it”, Mary Margaret responded.

     “Where is she?” David asked.

     “She disappeared”, his wife sighed. “Something in the letter must have upset her.”

     “Should we try to find her?” Maryse asked. Emma shook her head.

     “Regina was pretty clear she didn’t want any help on this one.”

     “You want us to let her walk into this fight alone?” Rachel said, wrinkling her forehead and crossing her arms over her chest.

     “No”, Emma responded, “she’s going to get help whether she likes it or not.”

     “But... you just said we can’t interfere”, Belle said.

     “Because Zelena has Gold on her side”, Emma clarified. “We need to remove him from the equation.”

     “How come he’s on her side?” Maryse asked.

     “Because Zelena possesses the Dark One’s dagger”, Rachel answered. “It was described in the book; the one who possesses the dagger controls the Dark One, and for quite some time now the man known as the Dark One is Gold, or Rumplestiltskin.”

     “And we need to get that dagger in order to give Regina a fighting chance”, Emma filled in. Belle turned away from them, exasperation clear on her face. Mary Margaret did not look too positive either.

     “You saw Zelena”, she said, “she practically has it glued to her hand.”

     “Wait”, Belle suddenly said, turning back towards them. “What if... what if I can get through to Rumple without the dagger?”

     “How would you be able to do that?” Maryse asked. Belle smiled sadly.

     “I love him, and True Love can overcome anything.”

     “It’s worth a try”, Mary Margaret agreed. “Regina can’t do this alone.”


	26. Dark Eyes and Red Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the sea and in the forest...

It was not that hard to figure out where Hook might be heading. After all, he was a pirate, and pirates belonged on the sea and thus Wolfgang dragged Chris along to the Storybrooke docks. They found the pair they were following just as they boarded one of the boats. Wolfgang felt a slight tinge of disappointment due to the fact that it was not a real, proper pirate ship, but a regular, middle-sized sailing boat.

     “Oi, mate!” Wolfgang called out as the pirate was about to climb onboard. He stopped and turned towards them, one of his eyebrows rising as it so often did when he found something that surprised or amused him.

     “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked, not bothering to address them with their names.

     “I just wanted to see if we could come along”, Wolfgang answered. “Some fresh sea air could do Chris good.”

     Hook’s eyes turned towards the other man.

     “Honestly, he looks like he could use a good night’s sleep more than this.”

     Wolfgang quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him slightly away from the boat.

     “Chris knew Neal in the Enchanted Forest, I’m sure of it”, he said, his voice low. “I heard you were going to talk to Henry about him and figured that maybe some old stories will trigger his memory, get him to come to grips with what has happened as well.”

     “Do you really think a sea voyage is going to help him?” Hook asked, once again raising an eyebrow. “He looks like he will throw up any minute now.”

     “First time on alcohol does that to you, wouldn’t you agree?”

     Hook blinked in surprise and a flash of recognition passed over his face before he composed himself.

     “Well, if Henry says it’s fine for you to come along, I don’t see why not.”

     He waved them towards the boat where the teenage boy stuck up his head from the hatch.

     “Hey mate, would you be alright if we came along?” Wolfgang asked, pointing at himself and Chris. “Reminiscing a bit about your dad somewhere away from this town would certainly make my friend here feel a lot better.”

     “Yeah, sure”, Henry said, then turned towards Chris. “You knew my dad?”

     “Sort of, yeah”, Chris managed to say. “Wolf, are you sure this is a good idea? I’m going to vomit any minute now.”

     “Just get on the boat”, Wolfgang ordered. “We’ll get you a bucket when you need one.”

     Nick muttered something inaudible before heading down below deck, doubtlessly finding some place to lay down. Wolfgang, on the other hand, stayed above as Hook skilfully manoeuvred the vessel out of the docks. The salty air made him grin.

     “I saw you at the funeral”, Henry said, sitting down opposite him.

     “Yeah”, Wolfgang said and held out his hand. “I’m Wolfgang, Wolf for short.”

     “You’re from Australia?”

     “That’s right”, Wolfgang responded. “Chris is as well.”

     “So my father was in Australia at some point?” Henry asked. Wolfgang paused; he had walked straight into that one.

     “Yeah”, he eventually answered. “He travelled quite a lot, from what I heard. How much do you know about him?”

     “Not much”, Henry admitted. “I only found out his name now that he’s dead. He and my mum used to steal things together, but then he bailed on her and allowed her to get caught and put in jail. I was born there.”

     “Wow, so... you never met him?”

     “No”, Henry answered and shook his head. “When mum and I came here I thought she was acting strange and yesterday she admitted it was because of my dad, that he was in trouble and she had come here to help him, only she was too late. She said that the reason we’re staying here now is because she wants to catch the one who killed him.”

     “And you want that too?” Wolfgang asked. Henry nodded, his face suddenly determined.

     “Yeah”, he said. “Mum said he was a good man and good men should not be killed for something they did in the past.”

* * *

After the appearance of the Wicked Witch at the Diner, Robin had led his Merry Men back to their forest camp. His main concern was his son, Roland, but the little boy was blissfully unaware of the danger the town was facing. Tuck offered to watch him while Robin grabbed his crossbow and set out into the woods.

     Inhaling the smell of the trees around him made him feel at home. This world was a strange one and he certainly did not understand people’s obsessions with all of those “electronics”, or the magic carriages they called cars that spit out toxic smoke that made him want to gag. Here was where he belonged and he would be damned if he could not protect it.

     His tracking senses kicked in at once when the sound of the camp disappeared behind him. He loaded the crossbow absentmindedly while continuing his journey, his senses tuned to the forest, picking up every single thing that sounded out of place.

     And he did hear something that did not belong there; someone walking around not far away from where he was. He crouched down, stepping lightly as he followed the sound. A fallen tree blocked his way, but he knew for certain that whoever it was would be on the other side of it. Now he just needed to wait.

     After a while the walking, or pacing, stopped and whoever it was sat down, unfolding what sounded like a piece of paper. Slowly he made his way towards the roots of the trunk, raising the crossbow as he moved towards a good-sized hole. His finger was on the trigger and he was holding his breath as he took the final step, enabling him to see who it was that was sitting on the other side.

     Dark hair spilling over a blue fur collar met his gaze, along with a coat-clad back held straight in pride. He let out the breath he had been holding and lowered the crossbow, intending to leave, but she had heard him and quickly turned around, lowering the old paper she had been staring at. For a while he was only able to stare at her; pale face, red lips, dark eyes, and he knew he could not walk away.

     “We have to stop meeting like this”, he remarked. She quickly folded the paper and placed it in the pocket of her coat.

     “Did the Charmings send you to give me a pep-talk?” she asked, before turning away from his gaze and pushing back a strand of her dark hair from her face. “’Cause I don’t do well with pep-talks.”

     “No, nothing of the sort”, he responded while walking around the roots of the fallen tree, crossbow secured and held in his left hand. “After Zelena’s threat I decided to patrol the woods, in case she decided to build the ranks of her simian army.”

     He used his teeth to pull off the glove on his right hand while leaning the crossbow against the trunk she was sitting on, before sitting down between her and the weapon and pulling off his other glove as well.

     “How are you holding up?” he asked, studying her face. She was trying her best to keep it without emotions, keep her facade up, the one he had seen cracking yesterday at the farmhouse.

     “I’m not a flying monkey, if that’s what you mean”, she responded, refusing to look at him. He grinned and let out a silent chuckle; she certainly had her way with words, Regina.

     “So are you going to tell me what’s in that letter you’ve been staring at?” he asked. He knew it was only a guess that the paper had in fact been a letter, but once she turned her face towards him he knew it to have struck true.

     “What letter?” she asked, her face still composed but her eyes somewhat anxious.

     “This one”, he said, holding the paper between is left index and long finger and raising it up to her face. Her eyes widened and her lips parted somewhat as she stared at it in surprise, sticking her hand down into her now empty pocket.

     “I’m a pickpocket by trade; I spent many years learning how to rob from magicians”, he quickly explained, before giving her a hint of a smile. She glared at him.

     “You’re lucky I’m saving my strength for that Witch”, she threatened. His smiled widened somewhat as he glanced down at the folded piece of paper in his hand.

     “I think deep down you actually want to talk about what’s in there.”

     He met her gaze again, those dark eyes that he felt like he could drown in, although now they were definitely not looking at him with happiness. In fact she gave him an annoyed glare.

     “And what makes you think you know me so well?” she asked.

     “Well, for one thing I’d be charred to a crisp by now if you didn’t”, he responded. She stared at him, before the stone face of the Evil Queen melted away and he saw Regina again, giving him a real smile.

     “True”, she admitted, her voice tinged with sadness. He smiled and lowered his gaze to the paper once more, feeling warm inside once again, just like he had back at the farmhouse.

     “So, can I read it?” he asked. Regina looked down at the ground, but her face did not turn completely expressionless again.

     “I’m not stopping you”, she responded. Gently he unfolded the old paper and started to read the squiggly letters.

     “Cora, dear”, he read out loud. “I finally got my hands on your firstborn. Never thought I’d find her, did you? Now I know why; she’s the most powerful sorceress I have ever encountered. Even more powerful than you.”

     He paused and looked up at her again. Even though her face was partially turned away from him he noticed the wetness in her eyes.

     “Stunning, in every way”, he said, remembering the next line of the text, and he could not agree more. To him Regina was exactly that and his eyes once again looked at her lips, wishing he would not have backed out the day before, wishing he had kissed her when he had the chance. Realizing he had to say something before their current situation got awkward he cleared his throat and folded the letter once again.

     “Rather complimentary, I’d say. Why is this troubling you?”

     Regina kept her face away from him, but he could see how her lips parted and her tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

     “I’ve seen that letter a hundred times before”, she admitted and swallowed. “In my darkest moments I’d... go to it for comfort... for solace, for... a boost when I needed it, because I...”

     She swallowed again, her voice on the verge of breaking and she closed her eyes to rein her feelings in again.

     “Because I always thought it was about me”, she finished, opening her eyes again. He tore his gaze away from her face when realizing exactly what was troubling her about the text he had just read.

     “It’s about Zelena”, he said, speaking quietly.

     “Rumplestiltskin thinks she’s more powerful than I am”, Regina agreed.

     “Why care what that imp thinks?” he asked, leaning over and placing his hand over hers. She jumped at the contact but did not pull away; instead she turned to face him again.

     “Because if the man who taught me everything I know about magic thinks she is stronger than I am... then there is no way I can win this fight.”


	27. Red Cheek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the farmhouse we go...

Heading back to the Witch’s house did not exactly calm Rachel’s nerves, as all she could think about was what had happened the last time they went there, or rather what had happened on the road. Every part of her body screamed at her to turn back, but her stubbornness kept her going. She might not be the most stubborn in her family – that title certainly belonged to one of her sisters – but she was her grandfather’s daughter at heart and some of his well-known stubbornness had been given to her. It was what she used to walk even though she was tired, to get back up on the horse even though she was bruised from being thrown off, and what she now used to overcome the anxiety this part of the woods made her feel.

     Of course David, being Prince Charming at heart, still noticed and fell back to walk with her.

     “She won’t get to you again”, he promised.

     “I know that”, she responded, “but there’s no need for you to protect me.”

     He frowned slightly at her.

     “You need to be there for Mary Margaret”, Rachel continued, “not make sure that I’m safe. I can handle that myself and...”

     He grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.

     “Don’t say it”, he ordered.

     “Say what?”

     “Say that your friends can protect you”, David responded. “Not against the Witch.”

     “She’s after Regina and, judging by what she said at the Diner, _your_ unborn child”, Rachel pointed out.

     “And from what we know she might be after you all as well. She kept your friends as prisoners, Rachel. You’re in as big of a danger as Regina and the baby me and Mary Margaret are expecting and I’d be damned if I let anything happen to you.”

     “Do you want your baby to grow up without a father?” she asked. “Stay with Mary Margaret, David, and you’ll both be safe. Stop worrying about me.”

     She moved to follow the others, who had already disappeared around the next bend of the winding path, but he grabbed her arm, pulled her back and suddenly his lips crashed down on hers. The surprising action caused her to gasp, which in turn opened her mouth and allowed him to probe it with his tongue. She felt herself melt in that moment, her arms going up to circle his neck to pull him closer.

     And then reality dawned on her again and she quickly pulled back, staring at him. He stared back, chest heaving and his gaze confused. Why had he done that? Why the hell would he kiss _her_ when his _wife_ whom he loved beyond anything else was _pregnant_ with their second child, the first they would have a chance to raise together?

     Not able to come up with something to say she did the second best thing; she slapped him. His hand went up to his cheek while his eyes widened in surprise, but she did not stick around. Instead she turned on her heels and walked back the way they had come, back to Storybrooke, her mind trying to figure out what the hell was going on. David would never betray Mary Margaret and she would never fall in love with him, that she was certain about. So why the kiss?

     She gritted her teeth when she realized the only possible explanation.

     “I’m going to kill that Witch.”

* * *

Belle was, of course, surprised when David caught up with them just as the exited the wood and announced that Rachel had decided to head back. Even more surprising was the fact that his left cheek was red, as if he had been hit by something.

     Still, with the Wicked Witch’s house right in front of them questions about what really happened when they lagged behind could wait. Belle walked towards the entrance of the storm cellar protruding from the ground, before Emma suddenly stopped her.

     “We have to check if the Witch is around”, she remarked. Belle nodded, realizing the reason behind it all, but her fingers itched to open that hatch and climb down, finding the man she loved again, seeing him alive. She remained close to it while the others walked back to the house, sneaking around it, spying in through every window, searching for clues of someone being there. Belle held her breath. Please, she thought, please don’t be here.

     “We’re clear!” Emma shouted, drawing her attention again. Emma, David, Tinker Bell, Tessa, Maryse and Catriona came rushing back to the cellar.

     “There’s no sign of Zelena and it looks like she’s still keeping Gold in the cellar”, Maryse continued. Belle turned and ran the last steps to the hatch, pulling it open and stepping down the stairs.

     She stopped half-way down, peering into the cage filling half the cellar. Someone was sitting there with his back towards her.

     “Rumple?” she said, her heart pounding against her ribcage. The person stiffened.

     “Belle”, came the response, hardly a whisper, before he spun around to face her. She jumped down the last steps and ran up to the cage door, finding that there was no lock on it.

     “I’ve come t free you”, she said, grabbing the door to pull it open. He raised his hand.

     “No, leave!” he begged. “Leave!”

     She stopped and he looked around, still on his knees.

     “You have no idea what that witch will do if she catches us”, he continued, the tremble of fear clear in his voice. She found herself unable to keep the smile off her face. It was him; he was alive.

     “I’m not afraid”, she said and opened the door. “You could never hurt me.”

     “No, it’s futile!” he exclaimed, stopping her once again. There was desperation in his voice and the fear in his eyes; fear for her wellbeing.

     “As long as she holds the dagger, I cannot leave”, he continued, his sad eyes begging her to leave before it was too late. She would not have it; she would not leave without him. They had been separated too many times already.

     “I’m not leaving without you”, she said, voicing her thoughts.

     “It’s not worth the risk”, he whispered. She could see that he tried to seal himself off from her again and reached out her hand towards him.

     “Just try”, she whispered. His gaze fell on her hand and, slowly, he reached out his own, letting go of the spinning wheel next to him. The moment his hand landed in hers she felt like crying; it was him, she could feel it. Still he remained seated. She caught his gaze one more time.

     “You just have to believe in us”, she pleaded, her voice still a silent whisper. He got to his feet, his eyes still on their linked hands, before he took a step towards her and met her gaze once more. She smiled with tears in her eyes and felt him lean closer, his breath grazing her lips.

     “Run”, he suddenly whispered. She frowned.

     “What?”

     “Run!” he ordered. “Go!”

     A cackle sounded from the darkness next to the cage and Belle stepped back, releasing his hand.

     “Oh, don’t mind me”, Zelena said with a smile, waving the dagger in front of her. “Carry on. I was just enjoying the show.”

     Belle glanced at the man in front of her one more time before following his orders and running up the stairs. A sound from behind told her that he was following, but not due to his own will; it was due to the Witch’s command. She flung herself out through the hatch and onto the grass.

     “Belle?” she heard Emma call, alerting her of which direction to head in.

     “It was a trick!” she cried as she ran towards the rest of the group. “She’s toying with us!”

     Maryse, who happened to stand closest to where she ended up, quickly wrapped her arms around her in comfort. Emma raised her gun and David, who today had chosen to arm himself likewise, did the same as they heard someone climbing up the stairs.

     The next moment Gold, or Rumplestiltskin, appeared through the hatch.

     “Zelena sends a message”, he said, his voice harsh but his eyes still pleading with them to leave. “She will face Regina _without_ interference! The next time you try to stop her... I will kill you.”


	28. Moments in Black and White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a waiting game

When it came to weapons, the pawnshop was a treasure trove. It contained a variety of swords, knives, bows, arrows and a rack of wands made for dark magic or fairies, or both.

     “So what do you think you were all using?” Jade asked as she plucked a sword from its rack.

     “I’m going to go with knives”, Indira responded, “considering the way I used them against that monkey.”

     “What about you, Jade?” Clarissa asked. Jade studied the weapon in her hands; it was long, broad and, above all, extremely heavy.

     “Not a sword”, she said. “At least not this one. I think I’d like a bow; I could be a good Merry Man, don’t you think?”

     “Question is if Robin Hood would allow you to join his crew”, Rowan remarked, grinning at the shorter girl. Jade stuck out her tongue at him in reply.

     “Well, let’s gather up as much as we can find and bring it to Granny’s”, Indira said. “Be careful with the swords, though; they’re sharp.”

* * *

“Alright, so who could possibly help us untie these?” Miranda asked, holding one of the two bunches containing their wands in her hand. “Regina needs to save her strength for the showdown, so who else has magic?”

     “Well, the fairies do”, Arianne suggested.

     “I’m not sure they’d be willing to help us”, Toby admitted. The other two looked at him and he waved his hand at the book, still lying on one of the hospital beds of the room.

     “After reading that one I’d rather put my trust in the magic of Rumplestiltskin or the Evil Queen than the fairies”, he explained. “Only Tinker Bell seems to have some sense when it comes to helping people.”

     “Wait, the brown-haired nun at the funeral today”, Miranda interrupted. “I heard someone call her Blue; does that make her the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio?”

     “My point still stands; fairies are not the best people to ask for help when it comes to magic”, Toby responded. The two girls, however, seemed too absorbed in the idea of finding the Blue Fairy and asking for her help than to listen to his protests about the fairies not being their best option. Still, he thought, maybe they were their only option.

     “Alright, fine, we seek out the Blue Fairy”, he said, silencing them, “but I don’t know if she’ll be happy to help us free a set of Ollivander wands.”

     “Why would you say that?” Miranda asked, frowning at him. He shrugged.

     “I don’t know”, he responded. “Now let’s go before I change my mind about all of this.”

     They set out towards the nunnery, a large, red, wooden building at the outskirts of town. Already when hurrying down the pebble road to get to the house they saw the woman they were there to find; a short, straight-backed woman with brown, neatly organized hair.

     “Blue Fairy!” Arianne called out, causing the woman to turn towards the trio in surprise. As they approached she gave them a kind smile.

     “Hello. What brings you three here? Has something happened to your friend?”

     “No, she’s... she’s still in a coma”, Miranda admitted. “We came to talk to you about something else.”

     She held out the wands in front of her and, at the sight of them, Blue’s eyes instantly widened.

     “Where did you get those?” she asked, her voice barely passing for a whisper.

     “They’re ours”, Toby answered.

     “The Wicked Witch took them from us”, Arianne explained. “The ropes binding them are enchanted; can you help us break them free?”

     Blue stared at the sticks for a bit longer before she straightened up and shook her head.

     “Absolutely not.”

     “What?” Miranda said. “Why?”

     “Because those wands were made by Ollivander and were the cause of his banishment”, the fairy answered. “He should never have created the sort of magic they hold.”

     “He was banished for creating wands for humans?” Arianne asked with a frown.

     “No”, Blue responded, “he was banished for creating wands combining light and dark magic.”

     She started to turn away from them and Toby glanced over at his companions, seeing the disappointed looks on their faces.

     “Wait”, he said out loud. The Blue Fairy stopped and looked at him. Despite being more than a head taller than her he did feel intimidated by that piercing, brown stare.

     “Regina is going to face the Wicked Witch tonight”, he eventually managed to continue. “What if she does not make it? Won’t you need something else to fight against the Witch?”

     “We will be...”

     “Regina and Zelena are the two most powerful sorcerers in this town and, on top of that, Zelena controls Rumplestiltskin, or Gold, or whatever his name is”, Toby continued, “and he knows everything about the kind of magic they are wielding and that you are wielding. Don’t you think you will need something that he does not know about, something that might be able to fight back against the Witch?”

* * *

Regina hardly had time to pull the door of her mansion open before the one who had been banging on it stormed inside.

     “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded to know. The woman, one of those who had recently showed up in Storybrooke, did not respond instantly; instead she took to pacing in front of the grand staircase, her face set and her lips pursed. It was a look Regina knew very well.

     “Who the hell does she think she is?” the woman eventually growled.

     “Well, I’m assuming you’re talking about the Wicked Witch”, Regina responded. The woman shot her a glare.

     “The question was rhetorical”, she muttered.

     “Why are you here?” Regina questioned.

     “Because you are probably the only one who can tell me what is going on”, the woman in front of her responded. Regina raised her eyebrows.

     “I’m sorry?”

     “David kissed me.”

     Regina stared at her for a few moments.

     “Well, that’s... shocking”, she eventually admitted.

     “We are not supposed to be kissing”, the woman remarked. “He is married, expecting a baby and I am definitely not even close to being in love with him.”

     “So you think Zelena might have something to do with it?” Regina asked.

     “It was the most logical explanation.”

     “Well, maybe, but magic cannot cause people to fall in love”, Regina pointed out before leading the younger woman into the living room.

     “We are not in love”, she remarked. “He loves Mary Margaret and I see him as nothing but a friend. The kiss was something _she_ somehow caused us to engage in to drive a wedge between us.”

     “And since you are here telling me about it instead of talking it over with him, wouldn’t you say it worked?” Regina asked. The woman sighed.

     “Until it’s solved, until I know whatever this spell is, I cannot trust myself to be around him. This was just a kiss; what if something else happens?”

     “None of this explains why you sought me out”, Regina remarked and poured a glass of her homemade apple cider to herself. “After all, you seem to have figured everything out without my help.”

     “I wanted to ask you if there was a way to ensure that me and David don’t end up in this situation again”, the woman answered. Regina blinked at her in surprise.

     “You want me to cast some sort of spell that will keep you two apart?”

     “Yes.”

     “Sorry, dear, I have a Wicked Witch to deal with”, Regina sighed and took a sip of her cider. “I cannot use my magic for anything else today.”

     The creases on the woman’s forehead slowly vanished and she took a deep breath before she nodded.

     “I’m sorry, I really should not have just barged in here”, she said. “You need to rest before tonight.”

     She was about to head out through the door to the hall again when Regina called her back.

     “Wait.”

     Regina put her glass down on the table.

     “If I look into a spell that can help you, after the fight, would you be willing to help me in return?” she asked.

     “Of course”, the woman answered. “What do you need?”

     “I need you to find Robin Hood and ask him to meet me where we met earlier today, an hour before sundown. He will know where that is.”

     The woman raised an eyebrow at her.

     “Yeah, sure, I can do that”, she said. “Anything else?”

     “No”, Regina said and shook her head. “Just... just make sure he meets me there.”


	29. Black Sky Over Main Street

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness falls

Chris looked up at the dark sky above their heads. He did not care if he got cold or if he had sand in his hair; he just wanted to keep laying on this beach and forget everything that had happened back in town, along with the strange pain and connection he felt to Neal.

     Of course the fact that the notorious Captain Hook stood close by did nothing to help him forget the truth.

     At the moment the pirate had his back towards the rest of them, gazing up at the rising moon. Wolfgang was sitting with Henry by the fire and the younger boy was busy learning how to tie knots from a book they had found onboard the boat. Really, that was all they had done since they got here and Chris was not exactly interested. He had tried to participate at first but then he just could not do it.

     “I think I’ve tied every knot in here”, Henry suddenly said, putting down the rope and the book before looking up at the pirate, whom he did not know was a pirate. Hook did not answer; he just kept looking up into the sky.

     “When do we get to the part about my dad?” Henry continued after a pause.

     “Just a few moments longer”, Hook said, before suddenly pointing at something in the sky. “There.”

     Chris sat up, trying to see what it was Hook had spotted. Wolfgang looked equally confused. Hook turned towards them and waved at Henry in particular, although his gaze also wandered over the two other boys.

     “Come here.”

     Henry quickly got up from the log he had been sitting on and walked over to the leather-clad man. Hook then handed him a metallic object.

     “What’s this?” Henry asked with a slight frown.

     “That, my boy, is a sextant”, Hook responded. “It’s a tool used by sailors to navigate.”

     “Like a GPS?” the young boy asked. Wolfgang snorted by the fire, which he quickly covered up by coughing. Chris felt the corners of his own lips turn up as he realized Hook had no idea what a GPS was and why Henry was comparing the sextant to one.

     “Aye”, he still answered, once Wolfgang had stopped coughing. “It measures our position using the stars.”

     He waved with his hand up at the sky and Chris squinted his eyes. If he looked hard then yes; he could see a few stars peeking out of the darkness. Obviously that was what Hook had been waiting for and the pirate was now grinning at them. This was his element.

     “Not sure that’s what a GPS does”, Henry said, “but what does it have to do with my dad?”

     “Well, I taught him to navigate with one, just like I’m going to teach you”, Hook responded with another smile. Henry just looked more confused at the thought.

     “Were you both in the navy or something?”

     Hook’s smile faltered and he glanced down at the sextant.

     “No, Bae... Neal was just a boy when I taught him.”

     Chris frowned. This sounded familiar to him. Why did it sound familiar? Henry also frowned, but probably not for the same reason.

     “Wait”, he said, “aren’t you the same age?”

     Hook leaned back somewhat, realizing his mistake. He had just made Neal’s story even more confusing to the boy in front of him.

     “It seems like the more you guys tell me about my dad, less things make sense”, Henry pointed out. “I don’t want to learn how to navigate; I just want to hear something about him that... that doesn’t make him sound like he’s made up so I’ll like the guy.”

     Hook sighed.

     “Your mother isn’t keeping things from you because she doesn’t want you to know the truth...”

     “I know”, Henry interrupted, “she’s doing it to protect me, but... how am I supposed to feel anything about him being gone if... I don’t know what he was like when he was here?”

     Hook stood silent for a while before a sad smiled crept up on his lips.

     “Fair enough, mate”, he said. Chris rose and walked closer, sitting down next to Wolfgang by the fire.

     “What I haven’t told you is why I taught your father to sail”, Hook continued. “Because he’d just lost his father.”

     Henry’s eyes widened somewhat.

     “I thought the sea might help ease his sorrow”, Hook sighed.

     “Wait”, Henry said, his tone now different than before, “he... lost his dad too?”

     “Aye”, Hook responded, “to something dark and evil, when he wasn’t much older than you.”

     In the corner of his eye Chris saw that Wolfgang was glancing at him, probably wondering if the story struck a chord in him as well. Truth be told, it did; he knew this story, he had heard it before, somewhere.

     “Really?” Henry now asked.

     “Indeed”, the pirate responded. “You see, you might not think you know much about your father... but you have more in common with him than you realize.”

     He gave the boy another sad smile, one that Henry after a while managed to return. The boy then looked up at the sky and raised the sextant, allowing the pirate to teach him how to use it.

     “You’re alright, mate?” Wolfgang asked. Chris nodded.

     “Yeah. Do you think the others are?”

     He glanced back over the water to the lights representing Storybrooke. The sun was down; the fight between Zelena and Regina would take place any moment now, or perhaps it had already happened. Question was if the Wicked Witch would notice that the two of them were missing from the crew.

* * *

At the crossroads beneath the Clock Tower everyone who had been at Granny’s had gathered, just as Zelena had ordered, except for one crucial member of the party.

     “Have you seen Regina?” Emma asked when finding Mary Margaret among the gathered. The pregnant woman shook her head.

     “Not since the vault”, she responded.

     “If she doesn’t get here soon that Witch could take it out on all of us”, Tinker Bell remarked.

     “Then let’s get everyone out of here before that happens”, David said and stepped forward, entering the centre of the circle formed by the gathered townsfolk. “Alright, listen up! We need you to get back to your...”

     “No one’s going anywhere.”

     Everyone turned around. Zelena was standing in the corner diagonally across from the Clock Tower, dressed in a long, black dress, a black cape with a fur neckline, her usual emerald necklace, green gloves, and on top of that (literally) a black, pointy hat. Clarissa would have laughed if it was not for the fact that she was very much afraid that if she did, it would be the last thing she ever did.

     “This show needs an audience”, Zelena now continued, walking forward into the crowd, which willingly parted in front of her. Gold trailed behind, unable to do anything else. He looked at Belle as he passed her, seemed to want to say something but his words got stuck in his throat and he averted his gaze. A short man in a hat was too terrified to move out of the Witch’s way and she looked at him with disgust.

     “Out of my way, munchkin.”

     “I’m a... dwarf”, he managed to say as he hurriedly stepped aside. Zelena rolled her eyes.

     “That’s even worse”, she muttered. Her sea-green eyes then scanned the gathered crowd.

     “Where is she?” she asked, waving the jagged dagger in front of her to show her invincibility. “Don’t tell me; she’s a coward. Well, this isn’t good for any of you. If my sister is not here in _five_ minutes, I’m going to let the Dark One of his leash.”

     Gold closed his eyes and worried whispers started to be heard through the crowd. Clarissa glanced at her friends, all of them now armed, but not with the weapons they had picked up at the shop. Those lay hidden back at Granny’s. Instead, when Clarissa reached into the pocket of her jacket, she found her fingers closing around a familiar wooden object.

     Zelena would get her fight, though maybe not with the one she had expected. However, if she tried to do anything to anyone else in this town, the twelve friends (Wolfgang and Chris were still missing) knew exactly what to do; distract and disarm.

     The minutes ticked by and the Clock Tower struck half past seven. One minute later Zelena’s patience ran out.

     “Time’s up”, she said, smiling at Gold. “Who do you want to kill first, Rumple?”

     “He’s not killing anyone”, Indira said, stepping forward. Zelena looked slightly amused and the mocking smile on her face crept even higher when the eleven others joined in as well, standing like a wall between her and the rest of the townsfolk.

     “If you want to fight someone, Zelena, fight us”, Maryse said.

     “Sorry, dear”, the Witch said. “I don’t dance with amateurs.”

     “Oh, we’re no amateurs”, Jade said and pulled out her wand. The others followed and suddenly there were twelve wands of various lengths, shapes and sizes pointed at the Wicked Witch.

     “So you think I’m afraid of you because you suddenly possess your wands again?” Zelena asked, smiling. “Why do you think I left them in the woods in the first place, so easy for you to find?”

     She walked along the line, stopping in front of Toby. With her heels on the two were almost equal in height.

     “Are you going to strike against me, Toby?” she asked, pouting at him. “No, of course not; you haven’t got it in you, have you, dear?”

     “ _Stupefy_!”

     A ray of red light soared out of the wand in the young man’s hand, only to be caught by Zelena. She laughed and vanquished the spell in her hand.

     “Really, dear?” she asked. “I know every spell those wands are capable of using. You and your friends are nothing but a _distraction_.”

     She flicked the knife forward and Gold’s arm rose automatically, sending out a gust of magic that knocked Toby and five others off their feet, sending them into the crowd behind them. Clarissa stared at them before her gaze shifted forward towards Zelena again. The wand in her hand was trembling by now; maybe the advantage they thought they had did not exist.

     “Anybody else want to give it a go?” Zelena asked, marching over towards her half of the group.

     “I do.”

     Gasps were heard throughout the group as everyone turned around, facing Regina. She had a smirk on her face and walked forward with as much confidence as ever, her head held high. She wore a long, black jacket, a patterned scarf around her necks, and just like Zelena she had gloves on her hands, but Regina’s were blood red.

     “Didn’t anyone tell you black is my colour?” she asked as she marched up towards the Wicked Witch. Zelena giggled.

     “But it looks so much better on me”, she said as Regina stopped in front of her. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up.”

     “I couldn’t let my sister off that easily”, Regina remarked. Zelena’s smile widened.

     “So you finally accepted me into the family?” she asked, taking a step forward. She was taller than Regina and her hat made her look even more so, but for some reason Clarissa thought Regina looked like the most intimidating of the two.

     “I’ve accepted that we shared a mother, yes”, Regina now responded, “but I still have one question...”

     She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at the Wicked Witch.

     “What the hell did I ever do to you?”

     “Isn’t it obvious?” Zelena answered, her voice low and threatening. “You were _born_.”

     She spit out the last word, her face close to Regina’s which allowed the red-gloved former Evil Queen to raise her hand and give Zelena a hard slap, which echoed through the empty street. When Zelena’s head whipped around to face her once again there was blood trailing from a wound on her lip. Clarissa stared open-mouthed at the sight.

     “I’ve been waiting to do that all day”, Regina remarked. Zelena huffed and regained her smile.

     “Rumplestiltskin can’t save you now”, she said, stepping closer once again.

     This was it, Clarissa realized. This was when the real Witch Fight would begin.


	30. Green versus Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Witch Fight

They were facing each other, Zelena bending slightly forward like a predator readying for a jump. Regina was not amused and retained her regular stance; straight backed, head held high and magic tingling in her fingertips. Even if Zelena might be more powerful there was no way Regina would go down without a fight – and she had a few tricks up her sleeve as well.

     “He should have chosen me”, Zelena growled.

     “Who?” Regina asked, never wavering in her gaze.

     “Rumplestiltskin!” Zelena responded, her voice dripping with hatred. Regina’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

     “That’s what this is about?” she asked, feeling a mocking smile creep up on her lips. “You’re jealous of me?”

     Zelena pulled back somewhat and Regina used the opportunity to throw her arms up in the air and use her magic to grab the traffic light dangling on a cable above their heads, sending it flying towards her opponent. The Wicked Witch reacted at once and deviated the attack, sending the object skidding along the ground. Some of the townsfolk who had gathered for the fight had to jump aside to avoid being hit by both the traffic light and the sparks it sent out all around it. Gasps and startled cries where heard from their audience and many moved further back, but none of them dared to leave the scene. Regina did not know exactly what Zelena had done before she got there but obviously something since not even the Charmings or those newcomers dared to take a stand against her now. Which was exactly how Regina wanted it as well; this was her fight and she would be damned if she allowed any of them to help her win it.

     “You still don’t realize what you had”, Zelena said as the two sorceresses circled each other. “You never did. You got _everything_ you ever wanted and you didn’t even deserve it!”

     Her voice lowered to a growl once more.

     “But I’m going to take it all from you!” she exclaimed and flung out her hands. Regina felt the wave of magic and tried her best to block it, but instead found herself flying back and landing on the windshield of a nearby car. Pain surged through her body but she climbed off the hood with a grunt and turned towards Zelena again. The Witch smiled triumphantly and Regina gritted her teeth. She was begging to be turned into a pile of ash.

     She walked towards her opponent again and waved her hand, feeling the familiar surge of magic as her most loyal spell, the fireball, took effect. One more step and she would be able to throw it without any interference. She raised her hand and saw Zelena flick hers in response, and suddenly the magic disappeared, along with the fireball in her hand. Regina gasped. This was not going as planned. She turned towards Zelena again and saw the Witch coming closer. A green-gloved hand rose up and suddenly Regina could not breathe, or move for that matter.

     “You can’t beat me, little sis”, she heard Zelena say as the Witch lifted her off the ground, her face turned up towards the dark sky. Forcing her gaze down she managed to catch a blurry image of her half-sister’s triumphant smile.

     “Everything he taught you, he taught me too”, Zelena continued. “But I was the better student.”

     She spun around and Regina felt herself fly upwards, through the air and away from the crossroads they had used as their battleground. Something broke around her and she felt as if someone had stuck a thousand little daggers into her back before she landed on a cold, metal grate. Grunting she slowly came to her senses again and realized Zelena had sent her through the face of the town’s clock. She pushed herself up on her elbows just as the green smoke signalling her sister’s arrival appeared in front of her. Zelena’s eyes were filled with disgust as she looked down on Regina.

     “What are you waiting for?” Regina asked, trying to sound challenging as she sat up. “Kill me.”

     “I never said I wanted to kill you”, Zelena answered. “I said I wanted to destroy you, and to do that...”

     She knelt down, her face close to Regina’s and her voice lowered to a threatening hiss.

     “I need your _heart_!”

     The next moment the Wicked Witch plunged her hand into Regina’s chest and Regina struggled with the pain she felt. It was not the first time this had happened and she doubted it would be the last, seeing as she was the Evil Queen and many wanted to rip her heart out, but she hated the feeling of those fingers grappling inside her chest. Perhaps even more so now than before, considering who it was that now performed this action.

     However, as she looked up she could see Zelena’s triumphant smile fading as she realized that something was very wrong. She pulled her hand back out and found it empty.

     “Where is it?” she yelled. Regina pushed herself up somewhat more so that their faces were even closer.

     “Our mother taught me one thing”, she said, feeling her own triumphant smile creep up on her lips. “Never bring your heart to a Witch Fight. Something you’d know if she hadn’t _abandoned_ you.”

     Using whatever strength she had left she pushed Zelena back and managed to maintain her triumphant glare and smile as the Witch stumbled back.

     “You haven’t won, Regina”, Zelena said, her voice rising to a scream. “I _will_ get your heart! I will get everything you ever had!”

     She flicked her hand and, out of nowhere, a broom appeared. Regina restrained herself from huffing; of course the Wicked Witch of the West flew around on a broom.

     “Not today”, she instead remarked. Zelena glared at her for a few moments more before mounting the broom and flying out through the hole in the clock. Seeing her disappear Regina relaxed back against the fence surrounding the grate she was on. She heard the door leading from the library to the Clock Tower slide open.

     “You alright?”

     Emma’s voice. Of course the Charmings would be the ones to come save her. Their steps ascended the metal stairs to her left, but she did not bother to look at them.

     “I’m still alive, aren’t I?” she instead replied. In the corner of her eye she saw them reach the topmost level, the one she was on, and found that two of the newcomers had also come along; both of them girls, one with short blonde, blonde hair, the other of Indian descent. Regina had not bothered to learn their names.

     “Gold disappeared”, David said and helped her get back up on her feet. “We thought that meant...”

     “She defeated me?” Regina filled in. “Hardly.”

     “You won?” the blonde girl asked. Regina remembered glaring at her at Granny’s that same morning for questioning her knowledge of the Wicked Witch and now she gave her another one.

     “Don’t act so surprised”, she said, before turning to look out through the hole that had once been the face of the clock. “As it turns out Zelena wanted my heart. It’s a good thing I wasn’t stupid enough to bring it with me.”

     “Your heart?” the girl of Indian descent asked. “Your actual, physical heart? Not something that the heart can be a metaphor of? Why?”

     “Well, she got Charming’s courage”, Regina said, “and now she wants my heart. It can only mean one thing.”

     “She’s trying to cast a curse?” Emma asked.

     “What kind of curse?” the blonde girl filled in.

     “I don’t know”, Regina answered with a shake of her head, “but I’m going to find out.”

     “But”, Mary Margaret said, her hands moving to her swollen belly, “we’re already in Storybrooke. We’ve already lost our memories. What else could she do to us?”

* * *

Robin had torn off his jacket long ago; the tension coursing through his body keeping him warm instead. If he held his breath and listened intently he could hear it, the soft beating of the dark heart buried beneath a few stones on the other side of the tall tree he used as his shelter.

     Regina’s heart.

     When Rachel had appeared at the camp and asked him to meet Regina at the fallen tree once more he had not expected this to be the reason. Hell, he did not know what he had expected, but certainly not showing up an hour before sundown and watching Regina plunge her hand into her own chest, tearing out her own, glowing heart and asking him to guard it during the fight. He had been even more surprised to find himself agreeing to it without questioning her or even asking her to put it back inside of her out of fear that Zelena could do something that would break the connection between heart and owner. In fact he had just vowed to protect it with his life, earning him a sad smile from the woman in front of him before she hurried away.

     He had tried to determine what was happening in town through the change of rhythm in the beats. There was a time when they had come so fast he had considered abandoning his post and rushing to her aid before they slowly calmed down again. Now the beating was a little faster than normal once more, but not so fast that it scared him.

     Steps approached and he tightened his grip on the crossbow before he heard the breathing of the runner. He could recognize her even by that.

     “Did the plan work?” he asked, stepping out from his hiding. She pointed the light of a modern torch at him, her face worried.

     “That depends; is it still here?” she asked.

     “Right where you left it”, he responded and walked all the way around the tree, leaning the crossbow against it. He then knelt down in order to remove the top stones resting above the hiding place while Regina illuminated it for him, exhaling in relief.

     “Then it worked. I just needed to find the one thing I had that Zelena didn’t.”

     He reached down into the hole with his right hand and pulled out the dark, glowing, warm object. It fascinated him that it was so dark, yet rays of red light still managed to escape from its core. Regina was not all dark, he had seen that before, but this was another proof of it.

     “And what exactly was that?” he now asked and raised the heart towards her. To his surprise he found that she hesitated, looking at his hand for a few moments before reaching out a red-gloved hand to take the object from him.

     “My heartless mother”, she responded, studying the heart intently with a slight smile. He considered her words in wonder, along with the reaction she had displayed when accepting the heart from him. In the end he decided not to inquire about it further and turned to cover the hole once more.

     “My sister was right about something”, she said behind his back. “She said I don’t always realize what I have right in front of me.”

     He rose with a slight grunt and faced her. They were standing close to another again, but somehow it seemed like they were meant to do it.

     “What’s that?” he asked, gazing intently at her. She no longer fought to keep the Evil Queen face in front of him, which gladdened him, but she still kept a lot of things hidden. As she opened her mouth to answer and then closed it, rethinking her response, he realized this was yet another of those things.

     “Just that I didn’t always appreciate things”, she eventually said with a slight smile. It was a multicoloured response, he knew, but it still made him feel warm inside, like he often felt whenever they were near each other. His gaze dropped to her lips momentarily; blood red, matching her gloves. She was still smiling and he managed to return it before she suddenly grabbed his hand and placed a black satchel in it. He could feel the steady beating of her heart through the fabric; of course she had not put it back in, that would be too dangerous.

     “Would you mind holding on to this for a bit longer?” she asked. His lips parted in surprise.

     “You’re really going to entrust something so valuable to a common thief like me?” he asked, glancing momentarily at the object before meeting her gaze again. She leaned closer, a genuine smile playing on her lips.

     “You can’t steal something that’s been given to you.”

     His mouth opened in surprise again. There was familiarity on those words, spoken with her voice. Had she said them to him before? Was this how she had felt when asking him if they had met back in the Enchanted Forest? His gaze dropped to her lips again and he felt like a man dying of thirst; he needed to kiss her. Damn, he would _die_ if he had to live this entire cursed life without kissing her.

     She seemed to sense his thoughts and quickly turned away, releasing his hand with the satchel and starting to walk away. Not again, he managed to think before he spoke.

     “You still owe me that drink.”

     She paused her walk, but did not turn back. Still, when she responded she could hear her smile seep through in her tone.

     “Yes, I suppose I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all in this batch of chapters! I'm gonna try to update the wikia quicker this time - I've got some days free at the moment so hopefully *fingers crossed* I'll be able to do it before things get hectic again :)


	31. Words on a White Paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recuperating and reorganizing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters 30-40 coming right at you ;)

They stayed at different places that night, half of them heading to Granny’s while the other half headed to the hospital – the ones who picked the latter had all been pushed back by Gold at the stand-off. Most of them wondered if they would be able to sleep again, though; Zelena’s revelation about the wands had shaken their confidence. If she had been able to read every spell the wands were capable of performing, what use would they then be to the people of Storybrooke?

     “There must be something we can do”, Clarissa said and lay back on the bed in the room they still used as their meeting place.

     “Well, whatever that is we’re probably not going to figure it out tonight”, Catriona responded. “We’ll meet up with the others again tomorrow and figure it all out. Right, Rachel?”

     The older girl blinked and looked up from her position on the floor.

     “Sorry, what?”

     “What is with you today?” Indira asked. “You were perfectly alright this morning and then when we met up here again before heading down to Main Street you were just...”

     “It’s nothing”, Rachel interrupted and turned towards Catriona again. “What were you asking?”

     “Just that we’ll figure this out tomorrow, right?” Catriona responded. Rachel nodded.

     “Yeah, sure. Absolutely.”

     Voices from outside the door caused all of them to look up and Rowan, who had been leaning against said object, barely had time to move aside when Chris and Wolfgang walked in.

     “You’ve been with Hook all day?” Miranda asked with a frown. The mentioned pirate popped his head in through the door in response.

     “Yes, and they have behaved very well, so don’t go too hard on them, ladies... and guy.”

     It was not hard to tell that most of them tried not to roll their eyes at him in response.

     “Haven’t you got somewhere else to be, Hook?” Indira asked. The leather-clad pirate took a step inside the room with a lopsided grin.

     “Why?” he asked. “Do you require some privacy, love?”

     Indira’s mouth fell open in surprise and she obviously had to fight back a blush.

     “Is there anything we can help you with, Hook?” Rachel asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she rose. The pirate’s cheeky grin vanished as he turned to close the door.

     “Alright, listen”, he said, “my memories of the missing year are intact. Not that it matters since I left everyone else right after arriving in the Enchanted Forest, thus I had no knowledge of the Wicked Witch’s business with everyone else until we discovered her here. There is, however, one thing that might be important for you all to know.”

     “And what would that be?” Chris asked.

     “I came back here because of that I received a message by bird, which I believed came from Snow White”, Hook responded. “There was, however, one piece of that message that always confused me.”

     He stuck his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It smelled of salt. Rachel accepted it and unfolded it.

     “New curse, Storybrooke”, she read. “Find Emma Swan, New York. Memory potion attached. WWoHP gang = danger.”

     Everyone stared at the small note for a few moments before turning towards Hook again.

     “Why haven’t you shown this to us before?” Rachel asked, her voice low but still perfectly audible.

     “Because I did not know you were the ones called the _WWoHP gang_ until Chris used that exact term when discussing something on the boat with Henry”, Hook responded.

     “You discussed who we are with Henry?” Rowan asked, turning towards the ginger boy.

     “No, not _who_ we are”, Chris responded. “I’m not stupid. I found out Henry liked _Harry Potter_ so I told him we’d visited WWoHP in Orlando. Of course I had to make some stuff up since we never finished our visit there, but it was a good topic on the road home.”

     “But what does it mean?” Catriona asked. “Does it mean that we are a danger to this place? Should we be locked up?”

     “No”, Hook responded, “my belief is that you are _in_ danger. The Witch wants things from the people she brought here; revenge. This means she wants something from you all as well.”

     As silence settled in the room the pirate nodded in farewell and disappeared out through the door once more.

     “Well”, Wolfgang said after a while, “that’s a cheerful way to end the evening.”

* * *

Despite the force of Gold’s magic when she knocked them off their feet, none among the affected had suffered from more than scrapes and ripped clothes. Along with a lower self-esteem, of course; they had expected this to be when they defeated the Wicked Witch and instead found that she had been playing with them this entire time.

     Not having memories of the past year when they had obviously dealt with said Witch back in the Enchanted Forest did, for a lack of better word, suck.

     The six people affected by Gold’s blast, meaning Toby, Maryse, Arianne, Filipi, Jade and Tessa, were all mulling over this very annoying fact in the room which also held the still unconscious Ella. Doctor Whale had been monitoring her throughout the day and had announced that there was no decrement when it came to her coma state, but on the other hand there was no improvement either.

     Jade absentmindedly flicked her wand around while causing various objects to float in the air.

     “Jade, please stop”, Toby sighed.

     “What, stop using magic now that I finally know I can use it?” Jade asked and sat up on her bed. “No way! How can you even say that?”

     “Because Zelena has a thing for him and it’s uncomfortable”, Filipi responded. Toby bolted out of bed.

     “Of course I’m uncomfortable with her!” he exclaimed. “She’s the Wicked Witch and she’s... she’s...”

     “She’s somewhat like the Huldra”, Tessa admitted. “I mean; red hair, flirty behaviour towards Toby...”

     “Stop it!” Toby begged, his voice betraying just how uncomfortable he was with their current situation.

     A knock on the glass door leading into the room interrupted them, however. Arianne, who had been sitting on the bed closest to the corridor, rose and opened the door for their visitor; Ruby, the waitress from Granny’s and also the counterpart of Red Riding Hood.

     “Hey, I hope I’m not interrupting anything”, she said.

     “No, you are definitely not”, Toby said and, with a final glare at Tessa, sat down on his own bed. Ruby smiled as if she knew exactly what was going on, but before anyone could ask her about it she opened the big bag she had carried on her shoulder.

     “I brought these”, she said and pulled out a set of mobile phones, still in their casings but of an older model. “There were only six in the store, but it’s better than having just Emma’s old one to split between fifteen people.”

     “Ruby, you are a saint”, Maryse said with a wide grin while Toby exclaimed a phrase in Latin.

     “No problem”, Ruby said with a smile of her own. She then glanced over at the bed holding the unconscious girl.

     “Nothing yet?” she asked.

     “Nope”, Filipi responded with a sigh. “Nothing at all.”

     “She’ll come around”, Ruby said and walked over to the bed. “I know she will.”

     She gave the others a comforting smile and momentarily placed her hand on her namesake’s shoulder. A moment later the previously unconscious woman sat up in the bed while inhaling a deep breath, causing the others in the room to jump and yelp and shout in surprise. Ella slowly leaned back against the pillows of her bed while regaining control of her breathing. Then, she opened her eyes.

     “Red?” she asked, eyeing the waitress. “Why are you wearing that?”

     “Wait, what?” Jade said and jumped down from her bed. “What are you... what?”

     “Why are you calling her Red?” Arianne asked.

     “Because it’s her name?” Ella responded, frowning. “Red Riding Hood, nicknamed Red?”

     “Yes, but how come you even _recognize_ her?” Toby inquired. Ella looked around at her friends with an ever deepening frown.

     “Because I met her in the Enchanted Forest, where all of you also were?”

     “Am I the only one who’s really confused about all of this?” Tessa exclaimed. “How can you even remember the Enchanted Forest?”

     Ella looked around at all of them once more.

     “You don’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To find out more about the Huldra-thing, go read "The Dark Ages" over at fanfiction.net - it's a Harry Potter fanfic that is frequently referenced here as if Rachel had been the author of it.


	32. Black Shield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _7 months prior_  
>  Unknown forest, the Enchanted Forest
> 
> Wolfgang and Filipi are sent out to find a notorious pirate captain

The fire was burning in the centre of their small camp, happily eating away at the wood they had collected. Their horses had just finished their evening meal and had started to doze off in the crisp, clear night. The temperature would surely drop even more during the night. Luckily they had been urged to bring warm clothes with them for the journey, along with thick blankets to sleep on and beneath, but it was still quite a different way of spending the night than the comforts offered back at the Dark Palace.

     “So do you think we can find him?” Filipi asked. “This notorious pirate captain that they all want us to seek out?”

     Wolfgang offered her a half-grin.

     “Well, there’s no point in not trying, is there? Seeking out Captain Hook is not something you’re told to do every day.”

     Filipi nodded and nibbled on a piece of hard bread. Wolfgang’s gaze drifted back to the flames burning in between them. The last few days back at the castle had been hectic. First they had discovered who Ollivander really was, then Rachel, Miranda and Prince Charming had disappeared. Upon their return they also brought two newcomers; Princess Rapunzel and Ella, one of the members of their admin group who had somehow been transported to the Enchanted Forest despite not being present in Orlando. Rachel had been injured and, although Ella had managed to heal her injured back, she was now hospitalized, something that she joked would make her think twice before going on a reckless streak again.

     It was two days after their return that Prince Charming had asked for volunteers in tracking down a famous pirate captain, Hook, who had been with them when they returned to the Enchanted Forest after their “adventure” on Earth but left soon thereafter. As Wolfgang had felt bored to death in the palace he had quickly offered to lead the search and had been pleased when Filipi stepped up as well. Out of the Hufflepuffs she was certainly the one with the most reckless streak and when tracking down a pirate captain such a trait might be a good idea.

     They had spent the first night at an inn at the edge of this vast forest. Their reason for going in this direction was that there had been reports on people being robbed by an unknown gang of bandits deep in among the trees and they both figured that with a bit of persuasion – maybe through the use of magic – they could get these bandits to tell them where to find the pirate. Rumours and news did travel quickly in the underground world, after all.

     Wolfgang was about to speak again when one of the horses suddenly raised its head and snorted, sniffing the air as if picking up a familiar scent. Filipi noticed it as well and they both sat in silence for a while before hearing the faint neighing of another horse.

     “That way”, Filipi whispered and put the fire out with a flick of her wand, then making sure their horses would stay secured until one of them returned. They then started to make their way in the direction of the nearby forest road.

     As they neared it they heard the sound of hooves thundering across the ground and then pulling to a sudden halt as a sword was pulled from its sheath.

     “And just who might you be?” an authoritarian voice asked. Wolfgang knelt down and pulled Filipi with him as a carriage escorted by four riders came into view down on the path. Their way was blocked by a single knight, his helmet obscuring his identity. He held a sword in his right hand and an unmarked dark shield in his left.

     “I’m the man who’s going to relieve you of that chest full of gold you’re transporting”, the knight answered, his voice muffled somewhat by the helmet. His accent was, however, British. The lead rider let out a loud, mocking laugh at the statement.

     “You and what army?” he then asked. The knight cocked his head somewhat to the right.

     “Well I’m glad you asked”, he said. He then raised his sword and suddenly small fires appeared among the trees all around the road. Fires burning on the tips of possibly thirty arrows. From their position further up the hill Wolfgang and Filipi could see that these arrows and their bows were not held by real people, however; only life-size straw puppets. From the road, however, the sight must have looked like a perfect ambush.

     “Your choice”, the knight said as the men in the escort worriedly looked around to seek a way to escape. “Save your lives or the gold.”

     It did not take long for the four riders and the carriage’s one driver to choose.

     “Retreat!” one of them called and turned, leaving the carriage and its horses on the road. As the men disappeared the knight sheathed his sword and removed his helmet.

     “Smee!” he called. From the bushes close to the burning arrows three other men slowly rose. One of them, a stout man in a red, knitted cap hurriedly walked up to the man on the road. The knight looked annoyed.

     “Those arrows took a lot longer to light than discussed!” he exclaimed. His accent had now changed; it no longer held the posh British tone, but a rough accent reminding the still hidden pair of Irish.

     “It wasn’t easy lighting all of them by ourselves, Captain”, the man in the red cap, Smee, said. Wolfgang and Filipi turned to look at each other, both with their eyebrows raised. Captain? Had the knight just been called Captain?

     “Maybe if we had an actual army...” Smee continued, looking expectantly at the man called Captain. This man suddenly gave a cocky grin.

     “And share the spoils?” he said and scoffed. “I think not.”

     He led the way up to the carriage while Smee retrieved a pair of keys from the driver’s seat.

     “I got to say”, the man in the red cap said while fumbling with the keys, “it’s good to be at your side again, Sir, and not as a rat.”

     He unlocked the door and stepped aside to allow the two still silent men to walk up to the carriage to retrieve its hidden goods.

     “Well, that’s a lovely side effect of the curse breaking for you, I’d imagine”, the man in armour said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

     “I did like the mobility”, Smee responded, while their two comrades pulled out a closed chest from the insides of the carriage, “but being a human is good, too.”

     When the chest was placed on the ground, Smee used a small pollaxe to cut the lock to pieces and flip the lid open. Even from a distance Wolfgang and Filipi could see the gold, pearls and jewels hidden inside. The captain grinned again at the sight.

     “What did I tell you, mates?” he said, his voice loud. “You don’t need a ship to be a pirate.”

     He laughed and his men soon joined in, before they hoisted the treasure back onboard the carriage. The captain and Smee seated themselves inside the carriage as well, while the two other men climbed onto the driver’s seat and clashed the reins, causing the horses to move forward.

     “So”, Wolfgang said when they were gone and the fires on the arrows dwindled, “that was Captain Hook, wasn’t it?”

     “Is that what you call a jackpot?” Filipi retorted.

     “Not if we lose them”, Wolfgang countered and rose. “Come on.”

     They hurried back to their camp and used magic to put their things back behind their saddles, before getting up on their horses and trotting back down to the road. The tracks from the carriage were easy to follow in the mud and they soon turned down a rarely used side-road. It, in turn, led them to a small town with grey, wooden houses on the edge of the forest.

     “Bandit town”, Wolfgang quickly nicknamed it as they saw the wary eyes every inhabitant they passed gave them.

     “Do you think it’s clever to say that out loud?” Filipi silenly asked.

     “What else should we call it? Sunshine village?”

     Filipi rolled her eyes at him before pointing out the carriage they had been following. It was being led away by an unknown man, apparently already sold, along with its two horses. Turning in the other direction they spotted one of the men from the forest, one of those that had not spoken. He was biting a gold coin as if to check that it was real before he, with a toothy grin, opened a door nearby, letting out a stream of sounds and smells. A tavern, no doubt.

     “Let’s secure the horses and head inside”, Wolfgang suggested and jumped off, tying the reins of his horse around a pole. While keeping his wand hidden up his sleeve he then made sure that no one would be able to steal anything loaded onto the horse’s back or the horse itself, or cut the pole to steal it for that matter. In the corner of his eye he could see Filipi doing the same.

     He entered the tavern first and instantly felt the urge to remove his thick cloak; the air inside the small house made it feel warmer than in the hottest desert back on Earth. Their entrance went seemingly unnoticed as right when they entered they heard Smee give a loud shout.

     “To Captain Hook!”

     In response, every man and woman in the tavern raised their goblets, glasses and tankards, cheering loudly before gulping down whatever liquid they had ordered.

     “Can I get you anything, sir?” a voice suddenly asked, drawing Wolfgang’s attention. Next to him, almost entering his personal space, was a woman with tanned skin and dark hair, batting her long eyelashes at him.

     “Two tankards of mead”, Filipi cut in, “and make it fast.”

     The woman glared at her momentarily before walking away, swaying her hips.

     “I don’t drink”, Wolfgang pointed out as his companion pulled him towards an empty table not too far from where the pirates sat.

     “You better do now”, Filipi responded. “We’re in bandit town, remember?”

     Wolfgang winced before glancing over at the pirates. Suddenly he noticed that one of them was missing, and not just anyone; Hook.


	33. A Mermaid with Red Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pirates, bandits and mermaids...

“Where did he go?”

     Filipi looked up briefly, following Wolfgang’s gaze to the pirates’ table.

     “His men are still here”, she said. “He’ll come back, don’t worry.”

     Wolfgang did not look convinced, but in that moment the young woman they had ordered from earlier approached their table.

     “Last order for tonight, Sir”, she said, batting her eyelashes at Wolfgang in an overly suggestive manner. Wolfgang opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, unable to form a coherent sentence as a response.

     “Sorry, girl, not this time around”, Filipi said, coming to his rescue. “We’re not here for that kind of entertainment.”

     The girl gave her another glare, probably thinking that Filipi was after Wolfgang herself. Filipi fought back an amused smile; if she only knew.

     “It’s not poison”, she then pointed out when Wolfgang suspiciously eyed his tankard. To prove it she downed a mouthful of her own drink. The dark mead was sweet and bitter at the same time, probably spiced with various forest berries. It might not be the best drink to serve someone who had never had alcohol before, but she doubted they would be able to get anything else at a good price in this place.

     Wolfgang tentatively grabbed the handle of his tankard and sniffed the beverage.

     “Remember where you are”, Filipi pointed out once again. At that he took a deep breath and raised the tankard to his lips, downing a mouthful. His face then twisted in a grimace and he coughed at the taste.

     “That’s terrible”, he hissed.

     “Believe me; you could have had worse”, Filipi responded with a shrug. She held her tankard in her right hand while looking around the tavern, eyeing its guests with as much suspicion as they eyed her. At least their clothes were not branded with any royal mark, she reflected, but they were still strangers and strangers were not welcomed with open arms in towns like these. In the corner of her eye she saw Wolfgang take another sip of his mead and fighting back another grimace.

     “Better?” she asked when he downed a third.

     “A bit”, he muttered. She noticed that he was already starting to show signs of being affected by the drink and suspiciously eyed her own tankard; apparently the mead was stronger than she had anticipated.

     His mood darkened while he continued to drink and by the time he had finished the tankard even Filipi did not dare to engage him in a conversation. As the tavern had closed its business for the night many of the others in the room had started to leave and Filipi saw that two of the pirates from Hook’s company was among the people exiting the door. Smee, however, remained behind, having fallen asleep by their table.

     “Where is that bloody pirate?” Wolfgang growled and moved to stand.

     “Get back down”, Filipi ordered. “You’re drunk.”

     “You bet I’m drunk! Thanks to you, that is.”

     Filipi fingered her wand, secured on the inside of her sleeve with only the tip touching her palm. She would be fully capable of knocking him out and ensuring that he slept until he felt better again, but that would mean revealing themselves to the few people still at the tavern.

     In the end the decision was made for her as a man burst in through the door and looked around, his eyes sticking on her.

     “There she is!” he called. “The witch!”

     She cursed her pale complexion; it definitely stood out from everyone else she had met so far and made her very recognizable.

     “She bewitched her horse”, the man continued. “I saw it myself and now the animal won’t even budge when asked to move over.”

     “Oh please”, Wolfgang grunted. “It’s an anti-theft spell. You tried to steal our horses, didn’t you?”

     The man blinked in surprise; obviously he had not seen that Filipi had had a companion. Wolfgang now stumbled forward so that he stood in front of the man, drawing his wand and pointing it at his opponent.

     “So much for keeping this a secret”, Filipi groaned and rose as well. When flicking her wand Wolfgang looked like he had been hit in the head with something, before falling onto his back, snoring as loudly as Smee in the far corner.

     “Count yourself lucky”, she told the shocked thief in the doorway. “I could have used a far worse spell on you instead.”

     This caused the man to quickly spin on his heel and nearly walk straight into the tall, leather-clad pirate captain who had suddenly appeared in the doorway. He seemed distraught and did not even pay the man, or Filipi or Wolfgang, any attention. Instead he walked back to the table where Smee was sitting.

     “Rise and shine, you bilge rat!” he called, kicking the table and waking the sleeping man. The captain sat down opposite him.

     “No offense, Mr Smee.”

     “None taken”, the newly woken Smee said, straightening up and adjusting his red cap. “I keep dreaming of cheese...”

     His eyes then met the captain’s, realizing that something was up.

     “What is it?”

     “I know who has the _Jolly Roger_ , and we’re going to take her back”, the leather-clad pirate answered. Smee suddenly grinned and pulled out his pollaxe again.

     “Whose funeral shall we be attending, Sir?” he asked. In response his captain ran a knife into the table between them, leaving it standing straight up. Even from a distance Filipi could see that there was an engraved metal plate on the shaft, probably carrying an insignia.

     “Blackbeard”, the captain said, his voice a tense whisper. Smee’s grin faltered at once.

     “Blackbeard? But... he’s the most cutthroat pirate ever to hoist a sail... after you, of course.”

     “Which will make it all the more satisfying when I take my ship back and make him walk her lovely plank”, the captain pointed out, his voice harsh. Filipi discreetly waved her wand again and Wolfgang grunted on the floor and rubbed his face as the spell lifted.

     “Why do I feel like throwing up?” he asked.

     “Because I sped up your body’s ability to burn alcohol, creating an early hangover”, Filipi responded and knelt down next to him, grabbing his arm. “Come on, let’s get you back up on your feet.”

     “I’d rather lie down.”

     Filipi rolled her eyes, even though he could not see it.

     “He’s back, just so you know”, she said and rose, leaning against the bar while catching up on the conversation. The pirate captain, the notorious Captain Hook with his signature silver hook replacing his left hand, was now leaning slightly forward on the table, pointing with his whole (right) hand at Smee.

     “I haven’t been myself since we returned”, he said, his voice close to a whisper and Filipi had to strain her ears in order to hear him. “I should have realized the reason why; it’s because I don’t have _her_.”

     “Her?” Smee said, looking somewhat amused. “You talk about the vessel as though she’s a woman.”

     “Women come and go, Mr Smee, but a pirate’s life is forever.”

     The door of the tavern opened and a young woman with red hair stepped inside, eyes sticking to the pirates. Careful not to step on Wolfgang, who was in her way, she started to walk towards their table.

     “Still, Captain”, Smee said, “I doubt we could even find Blackbeard...”

     “Don’t be a coward!” Hook bellowed, before lowering his voice again. “I know where he moors his vessels; it’s less than a day’s trek. And then I’ll have my ship again.”

     “And I will have my prince”, the red-haired woman said, having reached the table. Hook leaned back on the bench he was sitting on and gave her an annoyed look.

     “Few people have held a dagger to my throat and lived to tell the tale”, he pointed out. “I’d leave before I change my mind.”

     “No”, the woman responded, her voice demanding. “I’ve crossed paths with enough pirates to know your code; any valuable information a pirate captain ascertains shall be compensated in equal favour.”

     Smee looked down momentarily before glancing at his captain.

     “I think she’s right”, he mumbled. Hook turned towards him again, undoubtedly giving him a sharp glare. The woman, however, smiled triumphantly.

     “So”, she said and adjusted her vest, “when do we leave?”

     Wolfgang grunted on the floor once again.

     “Alright, that’s it”, Filipi groaned and leaned down to pick him up. “Outside, now, before you throw up on everyone in this damn tavern.”

     While rising to her feet, with Wolfgang’s arm around her shoulders, a hook suddenly slammed into the wooden bar in front of her. She jumped slightly before looking up into the face of Captain Hook. His sharp blue eyes glared at her.

     “Off to give your captain some information, are we?” he asked.

     “What?”

     “Don’t you think I know the looks of someone who has been eavesdropping on me?” the pirate asked and stepped closer. “Your mate is even feigning his hangover to give you an easy escape, but I’m sorry, love; that’s not going to happen.”

     “You bloody pirate”, Wolfgang grunted before raising his hand. Filipi opened her mouth to tell him off but the next moment Hook flew back out through the door and landed on the street.

     “Really?” Filipi said and let her companion down on a chair, placing her hands on her hips as she glared at him. “Why the hell was that necessary?”

     “He was giving me a headache”, Wolfgang responded and leaned back with his eyes closed. Filipi held back the urge to slap him and walked out through the door. Hook was still on the ground and she held out her hand to help him up.

     “What the hell was that?” the pirate asked.

     “Some way to avoid a hangover”, Filipi muttered and shook her head. “First time on alcohol does that to you, wouldn’t you agree?”

     Hook grabbed her hand and pulled himself up right, regarding her with as much suspicion as any of the others they had encountered.

     “Blackbeard would never hire a witch to spy for him”, he remarked. “Who do you work for?”

     “I don’t work for anyone”, Filipi responded and crossed her arms over her chest. “Me and Wolf, that’s my friend in there, are here with a message from Prince Charming and Snow White.”

     Hook’s gaze darkened.

     “I told them that I wanted nothing more to do with their dealings”, he said and marched past her.

     “Well, they still wanted to send you a message”, Filipi called. “Just to see that you were fine with your new life and, if you weren’t, you would be welcome back at the Dark Palace.”

     “As you might have heard, love, I just found out where my ship is located”, Hook responded, turning to give her a lopsided grin. “Why should I ever want to leave this life?”

     “I’m not asking”, she pointed out. “I’m just delivering the message.”

     “Hook?” the red-haired woman said, appearing in the door of the tavern. “When are we leaving?”

     Filipi caught the annoyed look on the pirate’s face before he once again turned to walk away.

     “At first light!” he called over his shoulder, before blending in with the darkness. The red-haired woman looked pleased and turned to face Filipi.

     “Hi”, she said with a wide smile, “I’m Ariel.”

     Filipi’s eyes widened somewhat.

     “You’re Ariel?” she asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be... you know, a mermaid?”  
     “Oh, I am”, the woman responded, “but I can be human as well nowadays.”

     “And Hook is going to help you find your prince?”

     “Yes”, Ariel said with a nod. “Are you and your friend coming with us?”

     Filipi considered it for a while. It was either heading back to the Dark Palace or they could join in on finding the famous pirate ship, the _Jolly Roger_. Despite thinking that Hook would not enjoy seeing them as part of the company she eventually nodded.

     “I guess we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, in case you hadn't noticed; Filipi is a girl.


	34. Silver Chain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> A spell to keep a certain someone away

Rachel rubbed her eyes for the millionth time as she walked up the stone path leading from the road to the Mayor’s white mansion. Sleep had not been easy to find that night; with Ella waking up and still having at least partial memories from their adventures in the Enchanted Forest sleeping had definitely not been a priority. Unfortunately Ella had not been able to remember everything they needed; in fact her memories only covered the first months they had spent in the Enchanted Forest, a time she had spent alone as she had ended up in a completely different place than the others. The memories she had retained after meeting everyone else were jumbled and misty, making it quite difficult to figure out what had happened during the time they had all spent together. Her meeting with Red Riding Hood had, however, happened before she had joined the rest of the group, which was why she had recognized her upon waking up.

     Rachel knocked on the white door marked with the number 103. It did not take long before Regina opened it.

     “Ah”, the Mayor said and stepped aside, “please, come in.”

     Rachel stepped inside the mansion, for the second time in less than a day. While last time she had been anxious and frustrated, this time she was nervous.

     “How are you feeling?” she asked, trying to get a conversation started. Regina looked amused.

     “I am quite fine”, she said and led the way to the same room they had talked in the previous day, “but you are not here to check up on me.”

     “After the showdown yesterday it felt like the best way to start the conversation”, Rachel pointed out. “You were thrown through the face of a clock, after all.”

     Regina poured two glasses of a sparkling liquid and handed her one of them. After sipping it she determined that it was apple cider.

     “Magic is an advantage when it comes to healing”, the Mayor pointed out while sitting down in a couch. Rachel placed herself in the one on the other side of the low mahogany table.

     “Speaking of which”, Regina continued, “it would seem you and your friends do not have the higher ground when it comes to magic and Zelena.”

     “Well, we should have expected that”, Rachel sighed. “The wands were placed in a highly accessible location and even though they were bound together by magic it was quite a simple spell. Deep inside I think we all suspected that something might be wrong, but we didn’t want to believe in it.”

     Regina pursed her lips somewhat, before taking a sip of her own drink.

     “The spell she cast on you and David seems to have been a temporary one”, she eventually said. “There are no remains of it on either of you as it is right now.”

     “I don’t trust that it will stay that way”, Rachel pointed out. “If she can do it once, why not do it twice?”

     “I see some of you are not as dumb as you look”, Regina said with a hint of a smile.

     “Toby is already freaking out about us not using our brains as we should, so I figured I might give it a go once more”, Rachel responded and downed the remains of her drink. Regina finished hers as well and rose.

     “Well, if you are still adamant on keeping David away from you this should help.”

     From a shelf she pulled down a silver chain bracelet. She held it in her hand for a few moments, concentrating on it and eventually it glowed purple. At that point the Mayor quickly fastened it around Rachel’s right wrist. It felt unnaturally cold against her skin.

     “This spell should keep David and you apart”, Regina said, “but only for as long as you want to keep it up.”

     “Do I have to wear it constantly or...”

     “No”, Regina interrupted, “although I would recommend you do. It’s been tuned to you and will work just as well even if you leave it behind somewhere. Possible attraction spells won’t work against it, only your own free will. If you decide, on your own, that you do not want this spell to work anymore, simply speak his name in your head four times, with the fourth time being a reversal.”

     “So the final should be Divad?” Rachel asked with a frown. Regina nodded.

     “Exactly.”

* * *

After sending Rachel away, Regina proceeded to pack a small bag of ingredients. Since Zelena had displayed a certain interest in the Charmings’ unborn baby she had promised to place a protection spell around their apartment, but this spell needed to be one that could not be broken by blood magic. It would require some experimenting, but Regina was certain that she would be able to get it done.

     Upon reaching the small apartment she found the floor littered with the parts of a crib. Mary Margaret was sitting in a chair, looking less than amused, while David and Emma were trying to decipher the instructions. After a quick greeting, Regina placed her things on the table and took out the ingredients she believed would work best for this task, before walking back out through the door. The thinness of the wood allowed her to hear the continued conversation inside the apartment.

     “I’ve seen enemy battle plans that were easier to decode than this”, came David’s voice.

     “Let me see”, Emma responded and the soft rustle of paper implied she had taken the instructions from her father. Regina poured the first of her ingredients into a small bottle before continuing to listen.

     “All right”, Emma said, “it says take screws E, with washers D, through bar C, using wrench F, which is...”

     She paused.

     “Not provided.”

     The annoyance caused Regina to smile. It would certainly be easier to assemble the crib using magic, or better yet; conjure an entirely finished crib out of thin air. She doubted the Charmings would allow that, though, and even though they were now on good terms she still enjoyed hearing them struggle through something that she felt she could have done with ease.

     “Why don’t you just call Marco?” Mary Margaret asked, referring to the counterpart of Gepetto. “He’s really good at this sort of thing.”

     “No!” both Emma and David responded. Regina finished adding her ingredients and spun the bottle a couple of times to mix them together.

     “Should we even be doing this?” Mary Margaret continued. “Ever since the showdown between Regina and the Wicked Witch we haven’t seen Zelena or Gold at all; shouldn’t we be focusing on her next move?”

     Regina poured the mixed ingredients out in front of the threshold and saw how they glowed before sinking into the ground. It caused her to smile; the spell had been successful.

     “We are”, Emma responded while Regina rose and moved to walk back inside. “We just can’t stop living.”

     “And this crib is a statement”, David filled in, just as she entered the apartment. “We’re not going to lose another baby.”

     “And thanks to me you won’t”, Regina said with a small smile as she closed the door. “I’m finished.”

     “So, did it work?” David asked and rose. “Were you able to put up a new protection spell?”

     Regina removed her red gloves as she looked at him with a victorious smile.

     “One that cannot be undone by blood magic. Which means Zelena won’t be able to put her hands on that baby.”

     Mary Margaret let out a relieved sigh and smiled a genuine smile while Regina sat down on a chair by the table, busying herself with putting the ingredients she had not needed to use back in her bag.

     “Any idea why she would want to?” Mary Margaret suddenly asked.

     “The number of spells involving baby parts would surprise you”, Regina responded and saw how Mary Margaret worriedly touched her swollen stomach. “That greenie is clearly one twisted witch, but as long as we’re in here, we’re safe.”

     “That’s useless”, Emma said from her position on the floor. “I think we need to stop playing defence and start taking the fight to her.”

     Regina felt as if the blonde had offended her and spun on the chair to face her.

     “Did you not see how I barely outwitted her yesterday?” she asked. “She has magic, _powerful_ magic.”

     “I have magic too”, Emma responded. “You’ve seen me use it. I just can’t always control it. But if we teamed up, if you... taught me...”

     “Now why does this feel so familiar?” Regina asked, thinking back on their adventure in Neverland a year prior when she had tried to teach Emma how to control her magic but instead caused the blonde to lash out on her and vow to never use magic again.

     “I’m ready this time”, Emma now said. Regina chuckled.

     “Okay”, she said, not believing those words for a second, “but if we do this, we do this my way.”

     She rose and closed her bag, still smiling amusedly at the blonde.

     “This isn’t drinking stale coffee at a stakeout or whatever you did as a bail bondsperson. This...”

     She placed her hand on top of her bag, which Emma knew to contain spell ingredients.

     “This is a way of life”, Regina continued. “You have to fully commit to it.”

     “Not a problem”, Emma responded, her face set with determination. Mary Margaret rolled her eyes at her daughter, while David seemed to resign to whatever Emma’s plan was. Regina knew herself that the blonde Saviour was stubborn, but she had at least believed that her parents would try to stop her from taking this path in life. When they did not she picked up her bag from the table.

     “Meet me at my vault in an hour”, she said, receiving a nod in response from Emma before she walked out through the door.


	35. By the Blue Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killian Jones, aka Captain Hook, contemplates his new life

If there was one thing Killian Jones longed for it was the freedom of the ocean. That was why he kept to the Storybrooke docks whenever he was not busy searching for, or fighting, the Wicked Witch. However, he also knew perfectly well why he did not just take any of the available ships and sail away from the small town. He was not a man who gave up on a promise and even if this promise had only been to himself he was not going to leave until he saw that the people in this town that he had come to care about were safe, something that applied to one person in particular.

     “Captain Hook!”

     He did not bother turning; he knew the voice all too well. After all, he had spent a few hundred years in Neverland with this man.

     “It’s about time, Mr Smee”, he instead said as the man in the red cap approached. “You know how much I abhor waiting.”

     He turned and gave the man a quick glare before walking along the pier.

     “What was it that’s so urgent?” he asked over his shoulder. Usually he would spend this time alone, but today his trusted sailor had asked to meet him here to discuss some matter or another. Killian hoped it did not involve rats or cheese.

     “It’s just”, Smee begun and hurried after him, “me and the men were talking about how we haven’t seen much of you since we all ended up back here.”

     Killian smiled in mock amusement.

     “Is there a point to that rather odd observation?” he asked and stopped, turning to face the stout man. Of course he had not spent time with his men; he had been busy helping Emma and the Charmings with the investigation. Also he much preferred their company to that of his pirate crew; they provided other topics to discuss than what to steal and what to leave. Neal’s death had also provided a valuable excuse to stay away, as unwelcome as that event had been.

     “What’s keeping us from crewing up again?” Smee asked, gazing out at the sea with the same longing that Killian often felt himself. “Hitting the high seas, getting back to pirating...”

     “You mean other than being attacked and turned into flying monkeys?” Killian asked, cocking his head slightly. “Have you forgotten; there’s no safe passage out of this town. You’ve already been a rodent, Mr Smee; does life as a simian interest you as well?”

     That, of course, was a reference to what had happened to the man in the red cap during the last curse, when he had tried to trick Mr Gold and the man had responded by turning him into a rat. At the moment Killian had been too caught up in his desire for vengeance to care.

     “Of course there’s a safe passage”, Smee now said as they started to walk again. “We could outrun them.”

     “Not with that torso of yours.”

     “If we had a fast enough ship”, Smee continued, urgency clearly visible in his voice. “The _Jolly Roger_ , for instance. You still haven’t told me whether you found her during the time none of us can remember.”

     Killian felt his mood sour. Of course it would come back to that; the fact that the members of his crew had not been with him when the curse had hit and had all been taken here, minus their memories, while he still held those to himself. Honestly he was not keen on talking about it; his memories of the past year still haunted him as the decisions he had made were not the ones he should have made.

     “What happened during that time isn’t important”, he now said. Smee, however, did not drop the subject.

     “You remember. Is our ship okay? What happened to it?”

     “ _My_ ship”, Killian corrected. “All you need to know, Mr Smee, is that the _Jolly Roger_ isn’t here. So there’ll be no outrunning of anything.”

     “What if we found another ship?” Smee then asked, pointing at the ones by the pier. “Any of these...”

     “Mr Smee”, Killian interrupted, “I’ve tried to let you down easy. Now let me be more direct.”

     He took a step closer to the man, towering over him. If he had been wearing his hook he would probably have poked it against the man’s chest as a threat.

     “I have no intention of leaving this town”, he continued. Smee blinked in surprise.

     “Captain, I agree with you; this place has its bright spots. I have never tried anything quite like frozen yoghurt before. But the Wicked Witch is here and with that sort of danger, what possible reason do you have to stay?”

     A familiar feeling crept up Killian’s spine and he cast a quick glance over his shoulder. Walking towards them was Emma Swan, her arm around the shoulders of her soon-to-be teenage son, Henry.

     “My reasons are my own”, he said, his voice sharp and definite as he once again turned to Smee, lowering the tone to a threatening whisper. “Question them again at your peril.”

     Smee seemed to understand that their conversation was over and gave a quick nod as a farewell before walking away. He nearly bumped into Wolfgang and two of the girls from his group and Killian watched as the young, tanned man gave Smee a deathly glare. Once again he contemplated telling him the truth, but before he could do anything about it Emma approached him from the other side.

     “Didn’t he use to be a rat?” she asked, referring to Smee.

     “Aye”, Killian responded, keeping his gaze at the trio further away on the pier, along with the disappearing Smee, “in many ways he still is.”

     He turned and gave Emma one of his usual, carefree smiles. They always came easy around her.

     “To what do I owe the pleasure, Swan?”

     Emma looked nervous for a moment, sticking her hands in her back pockets before responding.

     “I was wondering if you could take care of Henry again?”

     Killian raised his eyebrows in a slight hint of surprise, before smiling and stepping closer to her. He was pleased to notice that she did not step away.

     “If you want to get close to me”, he said, keeping his voice low, “you just need to ask. There’s no need to use the lad as an excuse.”

     “Why am I not surprised you’re making this about you?” Emma asked, although she sounded more amused than annoyed, something that was also shown in her slight smile. “I need your help, ‘cause Regina needs to train me in magic.”

     Killian raised his eyebrows again. After the failure at this in Neverland he had never thought the subject would be brought up again.

     “We think... together, we might be able to defeat the Wicked Witch”, Emma continued.

     “That’s the first reasonable plan I’ve heard since this all began”, Killian admitted. “Magic is a part of you, Swan. Don’t forget; I was there when Cora tried to steal your heart. I saw the power inside of you; it’s time you embraced it. It’s what makes you the Saviour.”

     “I’m not embracing anything”, Emma quickly responded. “I need to learn magic to defeat Zelena and make sure everyone here is safe. After that, I’m done.”

     Killian felt his heart sink somewhat, though he could not keep himself from inquiring exactly what she meant.

     “Done with what, exactly?”

     Emma looked back at Henry, who was sitting on a bench playing with some small technological device that seemed to keep him too busy to overhear their conversation. It was hard to imagine that this was the boy who, a mere year ago, had been captured by Peter Pan and had fought and played with the Wild Boys when he had not believed anyone would come save him, not to mention giving up his heart in order to make sure everyone else would be safe.

     “He doesn’t belong here, not anymore”, Emma said, turning back to Killian. “He belongs in the real world; in New York and the life that he remembers. It was good and it didn’t involve vile villains.”

     “What about the life you remember?” Killian asked and stepped closer once again, his smile having long since dropped. “You can’t just pretend like this never happened. Trust me; I spent the last year trying to do just that, return to the person I used to be and it didn’t work.”

     “Why?” Emma asked. “What happened over the last year that you’re not telling me?”

     “It matters not”, he responded. “Just take it from me, just this once; no matter how much you wish you could go back to your old life... you can’t.”

     Emma lowered her gaze, contemplating his words, before glancing back at Henry. This time the boy looked up and Emma managed a smile as she walked over to him.

     “Take care, alright?” she said and gave him a quick hug. “Stay with Killian.”

     “I will, mum”, Henry responded and waved at Emma as she left. Just then Wolfgang and the two girls approached them.

     “Wolfgang”, Killian said, greeting them with a slight nod.

     “Morning”, Wolfgang responded, before grinning at Henry. “Hey there, Henry! Going out on the water with Killian again?”

     “Don’t know”, Henry responded and looked over at the man in question. Killian contemplated stealing a boat again, but decided that it would be too risky.

     “Today we’re going to stay on land”, he said, managing one of his usual grins. “There’s lots to do here as well that you might not know of.”

     “Henry, I do not believe you have met my friends”, Wolfgang said, gesturing to the two girls. “This is Filipi and this is Tessa.”

     “It’s good to meet you”, Henry said as he shook hands with the two girls.

     “Wolf was just showing us the docks; I haven’t been here before”, Filipi explained. “Though I think now both me and Tessa would like to head to Granny’s for a late breakfast. Care to join us?”

     Henry looked at Killian again and he smiled briefly.

     “Well, why not?” he said. “Maybe I can show you a few tricks while we’re there?”

     “What, you’re suddenly a magician as well as a sailor?” Wolfgang asked.

     “There’s more to a man than what meets the eye”, Killian responded as they all started to walk down the pier. Wolfgang rolled his eyes.

     “I doubt those clothes cover too much”, he said, indicating at Killian’s regular tight leather trousers and half-unbuttoned vest.

     “Well, the ladies certainly seem to like it”, the pirate responded and fired off a disarming grin in the direction of Tessa and Filipi. The red-haired Tessa blushed furiously and looked away.

     “Don’t be ridiculous”, Wolfgang huffed. “Indira saw through your charade and told me when we were out tracking the Witch.”

     “And what did she see, then?” Hook asked. Wolfgang lowered his voice to a whisper.

     “That you’re madly in love with Emma Swan.”


	36. Shredded Blue Skirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise visit

Clarissa shivered slightly in the cold breeze that was suddenly blowing from the sea. The sun, which had been shining when they headed out, had vanished behind a thick grey cloud barrier and now small raindrops had started to fall on the small group walking on the sandy beach. If she was not so damn tired she would have been excited at this kind of weather change, just because that was her thing; she loved everything that had to do with meteorology. She even studied it solely back home!

     “So”, Rowan said, walking next to her, “what now?”

     “Well, we know some new things, at least”, Indira said. “We know for sure that we were in the Enchanted Forest for about a year and that we were trying to track down Ollivander while fighting the Wicked Witch.”

     “If we were successful in doing so is unknown”, Catriona sighed. “Ella’s memories might not be completely wiped, but enough has been lost to keep her from knowing the whole story.”

     “Basically we’re back on square one”, Rowan muttered and tossed a stone out into the sea. To everyone’s surprise it caused someone to yelp when it hit the surface and the next moment a head appeared above the water. The young woman was pale and shivered slightly.

     “Get her out of there!” Indira exclaimed. “The water’s freezing!”

     Rowan immediately took off and helped the woman get up and out of the sea, placing her on a flat stone and then providing her with his jacket. Clarissa could not help but notice that the woman was seriously underdressed; she wore a sparkling, purple bra and a blue, sparkly skirt that seemed to be in tears below her knees.

     “Thank you”, she now said, warming her hands between her knees. “Humans certainly do not adapt well to cold water. I couldn’t even move my arms.”

     “What do you mean?” Clarissa asked. The woman looked up.

     “Well, I do not always look like this. I’m a mermaid.”

     “Woah, wait, what?” Rowan said.

     “What’s going on?” a voice behind them called. Clarissa looked around and noticed David and Mary Margaret hurrying towards them.

     “She just washed up on shore!” she called back to them.

     “Who did?” Mary Margaret asked. “Who’s here?”

     Clarissa quickly jumped aside to let them through and the eyes of the two newcomers widened at the sight of the young woman.

     “Ariel?” Mary Margaret said. The mermaid-turned-human gave a weak smile and wrapped Rowan’s jacket tighter around herself.

     “She needs to get something warm to drink”, Indira said. “Cat?”

     “I’m on it”, the younger girl quickly responded and hurried off. Clarissa knew that she would probably conjure a cup of tea or some other warm beverage once out of sight; heading back to _Granny’s_ to fetch one would take too long.

     Sure enough; Catriona came back within a minute, carrying a paper cup filled with tea. Ariel accepted it with another smile, holding it in both hands to keep warm.

     “Where have you been?” Mary Margaret asked. “We thought you’d been turned into a monkey!”

     “A monkey?” Ariel said with a surprised frown. “No, I’m a girl that turns into a fish...”

     “Yeah, we know”, David responded with a slight smile. “What happened to you?”

     “I’ve been under the sea, searching”, Ariel answered after taking a sip from the cup. “I’ve travelled to every known realm looking for Prince Eric.”

     “Wait, you can travel between the worlds?” Indira asked.

     “Yeah, all mermaids can do that”, Ariel said, then frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I know who you all are.”

     “We’re sort of new here”, Rowan responded. “I’m Rowan, this is Indira, Clarissa and Catriona.”

     “I’m very happy to meet you all”, Ariel said with a smile.

     “You too”, Clarissa said. “So... what about Prince Eric? He’s missing?”

     “How long has he been gone?” Catriona filled in. Ariel swallowed.

     “After Pan failed, I woke up here like everybody else”, she explained. “I... I couldn’t find him. And then I overheard someone saying that we’d all gone to the Enchanted Forest and been there for a year without remembering it, so I thought... maybe he had ended up somewhere else. Maybe he was back there.”

     “But he wasn’t?” Clarissa asked. Ariel shook her head.

     “No. That’s why I came back here; I thought maybe I’d overlooked something, that he’d be here... but, obviously you haven’t seen him.”

     “We’re sorry”, Mary Margaret said. “We’ve been trying to piece together what happened. All we know is that we’re up against Regina’s sister; the Wicked Witch.”

     Ariel’s eyes widened.

     “Do you think that... that she might be responsible for Prince Eric’s disappearance?”

     “Without our memories it’s impossible to know everything”, Catriona responded. Ariel nodded and looked down at her hands.

     “Maybe for us, but what about Hook?” David suddenly asked. Ariel’s head shot up, her eyes wide.

     “The pirate?”

     “Yes, he wasn’t part of the Witch’s curse”, Mary Margaret agreed. “He has his memories; maybe he can, I don’t know, shed some light on what happened to Prince Eric.”

     “Do you think he’d help me?” Ariel asked.

     “He helped us save Henry”, Mary Margaret said. “I don’t see why not.”

     “Let’s get you into some warmer clothes first”, Indira decided and helped Ariel get up from the stone. “You’re about my size; I’ve got some back at _Granny’s_ that I think will fit you.”

* * *

Wolfgang stopped himself from cursing in the last minute when Hook, once again, cast the two dices he had brought to the diner and the dots showed two sixes. Henry groaned in defeat. The pirate laughed in triumph and reached across the table, grabbing another piece of bacon from his plate.

     “You want to know the secret to winning?” Hook asked. Henry leaned onto the table and smiled slightly.

     “Practice?”

     “No, my boy”, Hook said and gathered the dices again. “Loaded dice.”

     “That’s cheating”, Filipi remarked.

     “No, it’s not”, Wolfgang argued. “I mean, only if you get caught.”

     “I think it’s cheating either way”, Henry said. Hook drained his cup of chocolate and leaned back in his seat.

     “Point is; you win.”

     The bell by the door chimed, signalling someone’s arrival, and Hook’s eyes immediately glanced in its direction. Wolfgang followed and saw David standing in the doorway. Something in his appearance said that he needed to talk to the pirate. Hook seemed to understand this and dropped the dices on the table.

     “Practice”, he said to the young boy before rising. Wolfgang hesitated momentarily before following him, leaving Henry with Filipi and Tessa, who could hardly form a coherent sentence with the pirate around, something that amused the others greatly. Hook gave him a sideways glance but did not object to him coming along.

     “Hook, Wolfgang, this is Ariel”, David said as they approached. Just then Mary Margaret came in through the door, followed by Indira and a red-haired, unfamiliar woman. The name Ariel, however, was enough to let Taimoor know who she was.

     “She’s looking for someone who didn’t return to Storybrooke with the rest of us”, David continued.

     “He’s from a maritime kingdom”, Ariel explained, “and he loved to sail. Perhaps... you came across him on the high seas?”

     Wolfgang glanced at Hook and noticed, to his surprise, that the pirate seemed at a loss for words.

     “His name’s Prince Eric”, Ariel continued. Hook momentarily dropped his gaze and Wolfgang instantly knew that he was hiding something.

     “Sorry, lass”, the pirate eventually said with a hint of an apologetic smile. “I wish I could help, but I’ve never heard of him.”

     Ariel forced a smile, seemingly acting as if it did not matter, though her eyes betrayed her devastation.

     “Think hard, Hook”, David begged. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything that can be useful?”

     “My apologies, mate”, Hook said, his voice suddenly sharp, “but if I’d run across a prince during my adventure I think I’d remember it.”

     “I just...” Ariel begun and swallowed hard before managing to continue. “I don’t understand. How could he vanish without a trace?”

     “That’s it”, Mary Margaret suddenly said. Everyone turned towards her in surprise.

     “That’s what?” Indira asked.

     “Maybe he didn’t vanish without a trace”, Mary Margaret clarified. “When the curse brought us back here it brought our things too. Gold’s shop is filled with them.”

     “And if we find something of Eric’s we can use a locator spell to track him”, David filled in. Ariel’s face split up in a wide smile.

     “Let’s go”, she said.

     “Sounds like a plan”, Hook said and smiled at them. “Best of luck with that.”

     He turned and gave Wolfgang a sharp look, telling him that he should probably also leave now if he did not want to get pulled into this.

     “Wait, no, you should come with us”, Mary Margaret said. “You might remember something that we won’t, or can’t. In fact, you’d be far more helpful than us.”

     She indicated to herself and David when she spoke the last sentence. Hook looked at them and tried to come up with something to say.

     “Someone has to keep an eye on the boy”, he eventually said and nodded at Henry, who was by now trying to get the right spin on the dices to hide the fact that they were loaded with a weight.

     “Well, Mary Margaret and I can take over”, David suggested. Hook gave him a defeated look, before he sighed.

     “Could we... could we talk for a moment?” he asked the other man. David nodded and followed the pirate to the bar. A look from Hook told Wolfgang that he should come along; this was a men’s talk.

     “What is it?” David asked, keeping his voice low to keep the women by the door from overhearing it.

     “You sure this is such a good idea, mate?” Hook countered. “Let’s be honest; there’s only one obvious explanation why the little mermaid can’t find her prince.”

     “You’re saying he’s dead?” Wolfgang asked. Hook nodded.

     “I don’t see a reason to ply her with false hope.”

     David sighed and placed his hands on his hips.

     “In my experience there’s no such thing”, he said, eyeing the pirate. “You just have to believe.”

     Hook glared at him, something that David did not even seem to notice. Instead he patted the other man on his leather-clad shoulder.

     “Now go. Good luck.”

     Hook grunted and moved towards the door again.

     “Wolf, you’re with me”, he ordered. “Let’s get this over with.”


	37. Purple Cloak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _7 months prior_  
>  On route to Blackbeard's docks, the Enchanted Forest
> 
> A discussion about pirates

As they left the small town in the early morning hours the mist still clung to the ground, providing an even more enchanted look to the old forest they were set to journey through. Killian Jones, more commonly known as Captain Hook, had not been pleased when the two sorcerers had showed up with Ariel, announcing they were coming along, but he also knew better than to argue with them. They had magic and if there was one thing he was nowadays very cautious about dabbling in it was exactly that.

     As he knew the way to the old docks that Blackbeard used as a land base he took the lead, marching through the undergrowth of the forest as the sun slowly rose. The chill stayed present in the forest throughout their journey, but no one complained. Well, at least not about that; Wolfgang, the male sorcerer, looked like he wanted to hit something every time someone spoke or caused a branch to snap. Killian therefore took to amusing himself by doing just that; finding the driest branches on the ground and stomping on them as he walked. Filipi, the female sorceress, sent him multiple glares because of this, but she did not do anything else. It was surprising, truly; sorcerers tended to use their magic willy-nilly to take care of problems like these. Wolfgang and Filipi, however, seemed rather reluctant to use their abilities. Or maybe it was just Filipi; Killian did notice how she placed her hand on his arm as a warning multiple times.

     They did not stop for longer than a few minutes at the time, to drink and take out some food from their packs, which they then could eat while walking. Killian longed to feel the move of a ship beneath his soles once more and by not stopping he knew their trek would soon end in that; in him once again standing onboard the _Jolly Roger_. When it came to Blackbeard... well, Killian certainly did not plan on showing him mercy.

     “Trudge, trudge, trudge”, Ariel sighed behind him. “If you ask me there’s nothing more boring than land travel. I’ll take my tail in the ocean any day.”

     “There’s one thing we can agree on”, Killian said, eyeing their surroundings, “minus the tail, of course.”

     The sun had begun to set and they were now walking uphill. A gush of wind brought the smell of the salty sea with it.

     “You won’t be bored for much longer”, he continued, inhaling deeply. “Our destination is just past this rise.”

     He turned back and saw Ariel smile in relief.

     “Then it won’t be long until I’m reunited...”

     The mermaid fell silent as her purple cloak stuck on the branch of a spruce. Killian rolled his eyes at her attempts to free it and walked back.

     “Here, allow me.”

     Using his hook he tore the cloak free. Ariel stared at the tear for a few moments before looking up at him, her hazel eyes dark with anger.

     “You’ve ripped it!” she exclaimed. Killian stared at her in confusion.

     “It’s a cloak”, he pointed out.

     “It’s _Eric’s_ cloak”, Ariel responded, “and he’s had it since before we met. He left it with me while he was away to keep him close and now you’ve ruined it!”

     “If mending a cloak is our biggest obstacle we’re in fine shape”, Wolfgang grunted as he walked past them. Filipi, walking behind him, rolled her eyes at his back before stopping next to Ariel.

     “Here, let me”, she said and brought out her wand. “ _Reparo_.”

     Instantly the cloak seemed to sow itself together and the fresh tear vanished. Filipi then put her wand back inside her sleeve, where she obviously had some sowed-in contraption to keep it secured.

     “Thank you”, Ariel said and smiled widely. Killian sighed and started walking again, following Wolfgang.

     “You realize you might not find him, or survive?” he called.

     “I will”, Ariel argued. Killian wondered how long he would be able to deal with the stubbornness of this mermaid-turned-human and stopped, turning towards her again.

     “Didn’t you see the fear Blackbeard’s name struck into my crew?” he asked, his voice harsh. “You don’t become a pirate captain through mercy. If I were you, I would prepare myself for the worst.”

     Ariel’s confident look faltered and he turned to continue the trek.

     “So you would have killed Prince Eric if you had him?” Filipi called.

     “You don’t believe that?” he asked over his shoulder.

     “Well, honestly, I for one was a little surprised to hear that you might be responsible for Eric’s kidnapping”, Ariel responded, “after the stories I’ve heard.”

     He stopped and spun around towards the two women again. Smee, walking even further behind, looked decidedly uncomfortable with the bickering, but Killian did not care the slightest.

     “What stories?” he instead demanded to know.

     “Well”, Ariel begun, “the ones of you helping reunite Snow White and her family in Neverland.”

     “Why do you think they even sent a message to you?” Filipi filled in. “To some people you are a hero.”

     He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, glaring down into her pale face. If stories like that were spreading about him it was no wonder Blackbeard had dared to take his ship; people thought he had gone soft. He had not; he was the same pirate he had always been. No one should even dare to believe otherwise.

     “Don’t believe every story you hear”, he hissed.

     “Hey”, Wolfgang said, suddenly appearing behind them, “let go of her.”

     Killian glanced back and saw how the younger man had produced his wand, not yet pointing it at him but probably ready to do so. He let go of the blonde’s arm to signal a truce and signalled to Smee to continue on. The man in the red cap hurriedly walked past them, continuing up the hill.

     “Being good is nothing to be ashamed of”, Ariel said once Smee was out of earshot. “People change. Look at me; I have legs and fell in love with a human. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.”

     “You may have changed”, Killian responded, “I haven’t. I’m a pirate and I always will be.”

     “Nothing wrong with that”, Wolfgang said, “and I don’t think anyone else would know the way to a pirate’s cove but a pirate, so we’re lucky to have found one like yourself.”

     Killian sent a glare in his direction before stomping past him, his mood significantly darker than before. To his surprise, however, Wolfgang turned and started walking next to him. It would seem the younger man found it amusing to see Killian in such a foul mood, just like he had previously enjoyed seeing the sorcerer ready to kill someone every time a twig snapped.

     “You know”, Wolfgang said and pulled out an apple from his bag, “your story in this land is far more interesting than the one I heard back in mine.”

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” Killian grumbled.

     “Let’s just say a pirate who’s deadly afraid of a crocodile with a ticking clock in its belly was not exactly scary”, the sorcerer responded. Killian turned towards him with a surprised frown.

     “A what?”

     “See?” Wolfgang said with a grin. “Not scary at all.”

     “Is this your way of annoying me or an attempt to cheer me up?” Killian demanded to know. Wolfgang took a bite from his apple while considering the question.

     “Let’s just say that I think the two of us are more alike than we initially thought”, he responded. “Apart from your ability to drink and my lack of such.”

     Killian found the corners of his lips turning upwards.

     “Well, if you ever fancy leaving the familiarity of land and going out on the sea as a pirate, I might just give you a place onboard my ship”, he said. “You’d make a fine jester.”

     “That is quite possibly the most interesting offer I’ve had since we ended up in this land”, Wolfgang said with a grin and produced a second apple from his bag, tossing it to the pirate who caught it in his right hand. “Now let’s see this Blackbeard get the shakes from seeing a mismatched group of people demand that he return the _Jolly Roger_ to its rightful owner; Captain Hook.”

     “Killian Jones”, Killian corrected. “My name is Killian Jones.”


	38. Red Ruby's Spells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> Practicing magic

“ _Wingardium Leviosa_.”

     The stone she had pointed her wand at rose at once, floated through the air and then landed on the ground among the others she had moved with a soft thud.

     “It feels really cool that it actually works”, Chris, standing next to her, mused. Arianne smiled as well. How many times had people like them not picked up a random stick from the ground, flicked it in the correct manner while uttering the incantation and then been sourly disappointed when nothing happened? The only problem now was that, other than moving things from one place to another, it and all other spells, curses and jinxes were useless against the Wicked Witch.

     “We should probably get back”, Arianne sighed and lowered her wand.

     “Nah, let’s stay out a bit longer”, Chris responded. “If we head back to the hospital all we’ll find is Ella, Toby, Miranda and Rachel talking about Ravenclaw stuff and Jade trying to annoy them.”

     “We could head after Maryse”, Arianne suggested. “She was going to see Belle, to help her organize things in the shop, go through things that might belong to people around town.”

     “Arianne, I might be a Hufflepuff but I’m certainly not someone who likes to organize things”, Chris pointed out. He had hardly finished the sentence when they heard heels tapping against stone and turned around, peering out from behind the trees. Their training place lay next to the graveyard and now they could see Regina Mills marching up the stairs to a tomb, followed by Emma Swan.

     “What are they doing?” Chris asked as the pair disappeared inside the small house.

     “You’re going to suggest we follow them, aren’t you?” Arianne said. He met her gaze with a grin.

     “Are you up for it?”

     “Fine”, Arianne groaned, “but if they want us to leave we leave right away, alright?”

     Chris did not bother to answer her; instead he hurried up to the tomb and peeked in through the door. Arianne reached him just as he sneaked inside.

     Inside the small, square room stood a stone chest with an engraved plate on its lid showing the name of the one inside; _Henry Mills_. It was probably meant to stand at the centre of the tomb, but now it had been pushed aside, revealing a long, steep staircase.

     “Don’t touch anything”, came Regina’s voice from below, echoing against the stones.

     “How am I supposed to learn magic if I can’t touch anything?” Emma’s voice answered. Chris carefully walked closer to the stairs and Arianne followed, wand still in her hand. Two voices inside her head were arguing about this course of action; one saying that they should leave now, the other saying that she had to know what was happening. In the end the second one won.

     “The same way I did with Rumple”, Regina answered Emma’s questions while the two others started to, silently, descend into the underground chambers. “We’re going to create a solid foundation first and then build your skills from the ground up.”

     Arianne, now having taken the lead, reached the bottom stairs just as Regina turned towards Emma, who was holding what looked like the foot of a lizard.

     “I said don’t touch”, the Mayor said and grabbed the object, before spinning around at the newcomers, “and what are you two doing here?”

     Emma spun around as well.

     “Where did you...”

     “We were practicing magic close by”, Arianne explained. “Curiosity then took us here.”

     “And curiosity killed the cat”, Regina pointed out, her dark eyes threatening.

     “We’ll leave if you want us to”, Arianne continued, stomping on Chris’ foot when he tried to argue. Regina studied them in silence for a while, her eyes squinted, before she suddenly straightened up.

     “No, you can stay.”

     “They can what?” Emma asked, eyes widening.

     “Stay”, Regina responded. “They have more knowledge about magic than you do; maybe they can give you a few tips once we get going.”

     “They are wielding magic from _Harry Potter_ ”, Emma protested, “and it was useless against the Witch. How is that supposed to help me?”

     “Because they have devoted themselves to learning it”, Regina responded, her voice sharp. “Something that you need to do as well.”

     Emma opened her mouth to answer, before thinking better of it and closing it again.

     “So”, Regina said and turned towards a large chest, “while we’re here, who’s looking after Henry? The Un-Charmings?”

     “Actually, Hook is”, Emma responded while Regina opened the chest, revealing tons of old books. At this, however, Regina turned around, a frown appearing on her forehead.

     “Well, those two have been spending a lot of time together lately”, she remarked.

     “Hook’s good with Henry”, Emma said, not meeting the other woman’s gaze, “and Henry likes him.”

     “He’s prone to violence, impulsive and has a Hook for a hand”, Regina said and turned towards the chest again. “What about him would a 12-year old boy not like?”

     Emma placed her hands on her hips, much like her father used to do, and glared at Regina’s back.

     “I trust him”, she said. “He brought me back to Storybrooke and he didn’t have to.”

     “Of course he brought you back”, Regina said, still with her back towards them.

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” Emma asked.

     “Seriously?” Chris asked. “You don’t know what she’s talking about?”

     The blonde frowned.

     “See, even he knows and you’re going to pretend everyone doesn’t see the yearning looks and doe-y eyes?” Regina said and turned towards them again.

     “I don’t yearn”, Emma sharply responded.

     “Well, maybe”, Regina said with a shrug, “but he does.”

     Emma’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but before she could say anything else Regina picked up an ornate book with a ruby heart on its cover, flipping the pages.

     “Let’s start with roots for incantations”, she said. Arianne stepped closer, frowning at the neatly drawn symbols on the page Regina was showing them. Emma looked equally confused.

     “Are you kidding me right now?” she asked. “What language is this; Spanish?”

     “We’re not making tapas; we’re making magic”, Regina remarked. “It’s Elvish. Well, half-Elvish.”

     Emma looked, if possible, even more confused.

     “I’m never going to get this”, she admitted and looked up at the darker woman. “Is this how Rumple taught you? Just think about your training; what other methods did he use?”

     “Rumple was a bully”, Regina responded. “He didn’t suffer fools and he certainly did not coddle his students, and if he tried to teach you how to swim and you couldn’t learn...”

     She turned and dropped the book unceremoniously back into the chest.

     “You drowned.”

     “Drowned?” Arianne asked. Regina froze momentarily before a big grin appeared on her face as she looked at them again.

     “That’s it”, she said.

     “That’s what?” Chris questioned. Regina continued to smile before flicking her hands. Instantly all four of them were surrounded by purple smoke. It took Arianne half a second to realize that Regina had used some sort of transportation spell, which certainly was more comfortable than apparating had sounded like in the _Harry Potter_ books. However, their destination, was far from pleasant; as the smoke cleared they found themselves standing high above the ground on a narrow rope bridge spanning over a canyon. Somewhere close by a bird screeched and when they looked down into the chasm they saw the thin line of a river, which in reality probably was quite wide. Arianne and Chris were placed on one end of the bridge, on stable ground, while Emma was standing in the middle of the bridge, her back towards them. She was holding tight to the ropes on either side of her. Regina, standing on the opposite side, smiled slightly.

     “What the hell are you doing?” Emma shouted.

     “Teaching you to swim”, Regina responded.

     “Are you out of your mind?” Emma exclaimed, fear evident in her voice.

     “Every time you’ve exhibited your power it’s been spurred on by your instincts”, Regina said. “So today we’re going to push those instincts until you master them.”

     “A little reading doesn’t sound so bad now”, Chris called from the opposite end, causing Emma to glance back at them.

     “She has to do this on her own”, Regina remarked, noticing their wands.

     “Regina, are you sure about this?” Arianne called back. “What if something goes wrong?”

     “I’m sure”, Regina said and turned to look at Emma again. “She can stop me.”

     “Stop you from what?” Emma asked.

     “This.”

     She flicked her hand and suddenly board after board on the bridge loosened and fell down into the chasm, starting with those closest to Chris and Arianne, then the ones by Regina’s end, leaving Emma on an island in the middle.

     “What the hell are you doing?” Emma screamed again.

     “Making the bridge collapse”, Regina responded, as if it was the most normal thing in the entire universe. By now all of the boards had loosened and Emma was balancing her feet on the ropes.

     “You can either stop it or die”, Regina continued. Emma screamed in terror as the ropes by her feet broke, causing her to hang by her hands over the chasm.

     “Regina!” Arianne shouted. “Stop it! There has to be another way!”

     “No more hand-holding”, Regina responded, her voice sharp. “You have to do this, Emma. Reach into your gut; you know you can do this.”

     “It’s inside you, Emma!” Chris suddenly shouted, causing Arianne to look at him.

     “What are you...”

     “She has to devote herself”, Chris responded. “Believe that she can do it. That’s the only way to save her.”

     Arianne looked from him to Regina’s smug face to Emma, then to the ropes she was holding on to. They were starting to unwind.

     “Save the bridge, Emma!” she called. “Save yourself!”

     At that the ropes snapped and Emma screamed as she fell into the chasm.


	39. Golden Sea Creature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pawnshop treasure hunt

“Thanks for helping me with these”, Belle said. Maryse smiled at her before placing another object on the counter in front of her.

     “No problem at all”, she responded. “I like it here. There are so many things belonging to all of these different fairytale characters; it’s like a great big fandom shop.”

     “A what?”

     “Like a shop where you can buy things that are mentioned in books and such”, Maryse responded, opening the box she had found and lifting up the one of the small, ebony chess pieces. “Who did this belong to?”

     “That used to belong to Snow White’s father”, Belle said and walked over. “Rumple told me last time we were here.”

     Maryse looked up and saw the shadow that passed over the brunette’s face.

     “We’ll get him back”, she assured her. “Don’t worry.”

     “I’ll try not to”, Belle said with a smile, before walking over to the opposite counter and flipping a book open, making a note in the margin regarding the chess set. Maryse carefully placed the chess piece, a knight, back in its place and closed the box, before kneeling down to put the item on one of the counter’s shelves. Just then the doorbell chimed, signalling someone entering the shop.

     “Belle?” said an unfamiliar female voice. Maryse rose again, just as a wide smile spread on Belle’s face at the sight of their visitor.

     “Ariel?” she said and hurriedly walked out from behind the counter, embracing the red-haired woman. “Where have you been? I was worried I’d never see you again?”

     Maryse smiled at the reunion before looking at the two men who had been accompanying Ariel to the shop; Hook and Wolfgang. The latter nodded in her direction.

     “I’ve been looking for Eric”, Ariel explained, still held in Belle’s embrace. “He’s been missing since we all returned.”

     The two broke apart and an uncharacteristically solemn Hook walked forward.

     “We were hoping we could find something of his here”, he said. Belle frowned momentarily.

     “Oh, of course”, she then said, realizing what the pirate meant, “to see if he’s in Storybrooke.”

     “Have you seen anything of his?” Ariel asked.

     “Me and Maryse only just started sorting through things”, Belle admitted, nodding at Maryse, who waved at the red-haired woman. She smiled back and Maryse walked out from behind her counter.

     “It’s wonderful to meet you, Ariel”, she said. “I’ve heard so much about you. Are you looking for something belonging to Prince Eric?”

     “Yes, have you seen anything that might be his?” Ariel asked. “He’s from a maritime kingdom, so lots of his stuff had to do with the sea.”

     “Well, not yet”, Maryse said, “but don’t worry. Let’s just start looking and I’m sure we’ll find something.”

     Ariel smiled and joined Belle in searching the items inside the glass-counters, while Wolfgang pulled Maryse along to the backroom, followed by Hook.

     “What’s this about?” she hissed at him.

     “We suspect Eric’s not alive”, Wolfgang responded, keeping his voice low. Maryse stared at him, then at Hook.

     “What? Why?”

     “Because he’s not here and Ariel didn’t find him while searching the other realms, either”, Wolfgang answered. “Honestly, the only way he can be here without someone having seen him is if he was turned into one of those monkeys the Witch keeps about herself.”

     “You might be wrong about that”, Maryse said and yanked her arm from his grip. “Now let’s start looking for something that might be his.”

     Hook, having wandered off slightly, suddenly chuckled.

     “I’ve been wondering where you went”, he said and picked up a small, cylindrical object.

     “A telescope?” Maryse said as he pulled out the extension.

     “Yes, I lost it when I was last here”, the pirate said and placed the object in front of his right eye. “Ah, this is better.”

     “Why would you need them in here?” Maryse asked as he started to sweep his gaze through the room. “It’s much easier to...”

     Hook stopped, his grin faltering before he slowly removed the telescope from his eyes.

     “You look like you’ve seen a ghost”, Wolfgang remarked.

     “Maybe I have”, Hook answered, before pushing past them and walking over to a hanger of clothes. He pushed them aside, revealing a purple cloak with a large, circular clasp on a mannequin. The clasp was engraved with some sort of sea creature; its upper body humanoid, its lower like a squid.

     “Belle!” Maryse called through the door. The two women out in the shop immediately looked up and came hurrying towards them. Ariel gasped at the sight of the cloak.

     “That’s Eric’s”, she said, then frowned. “How did you know that was his?”

     “I... I wasn’t sure”, Hook said, lifting the clasp to study it closer. “I saw the sea creature clasp and remembered he was from a maritime kingdom.”

     “He is”, Ariel said with a smile, “or was. And now he’s here.”

     Belle was also smiling widely and gave her friend a quick hug before the former mermaid walked up and embraced Hook. Maryse smiled triumphantly at Wolfgang, only to find his brow furrowed with worry. A chill ran down her spine and her smile faltered as she looked back at Hook. The pirate did not look happy at all. In fact he looked terrified.

* * *

Regina wondered how her heart must sound wherever Robin Hood had hidden it. From what she was feeling without it in her chest she believed it must be hammering as if she had just run a marathon. Her hands gripped the end poles tightly as she glanced down into the chasm. From her end it was impossible to tell where Emma was, as the pines growing beneath the bridge were denser on her side of the river below. However, from the looks on the faces of their two companions, she had a hard time believing that something good had happened.

     She could not help but thinking about how David and Mary Margaret would react when she came back to Storybrooke without Emma. The alliance they had managed to work with since Neverland would be flushed away and, most likely, Robin would follow them once he heard about this. She would not blame him. How could she have been so damned foolish as to place them in this situation? There were so many other scenarios where she could have forced Emma to act on instinct without sending her to her impending death!

     A creaking from below caused her eyes to widen and she could hear the two on the other side give a surprised shout. In the chasm Emma was rising up towards them, standing on top of the remains of the bridge, animated into a moving tower that grew like a tree from the ground. The blonde kept her palms down, focusing her power, but her face showed nothing but sheer surprise. Regina forced down her own surprise, and happiness at not having killed the Saviour, as the tower climbed higher.

     “You go, Emma!” the young man on the other side suddenly cheered. “That’s brilliant!”

     The tower grew towards Regina and allowed Emma to step off, back on safe ground. Her eyes were wider than Regina had ever seen them.

     “I... did I just do that?” the blonde asked.

     “Yes”, Regina responded, “when all I wanted was for you to retie the rope.”

     Emma did not seem to notice what she was saying; instead she turned towards the tower, still staring at it.

     “It was like you said; instinct.”

     Regina glanced over at their companions and flicked her hand, surrounding them in purple smoke to bring them over to their side. The boy was grinning like a mad man while the girl looked stunned. She, however, eventually turned to Regina.

     “Why are you angry with her?” she asked. “She did it; why does it matter how?”

     Regina felt surprised that the girl could actually tell that she was angry. True, she had quite an intimidating glare to send out, but now she was fighting to retain it, keeping a rather neutral look. Had her voice betrayed her? How had she even been able to hear it; last time she spoke the girl had been on the other side of the chasm!

     “I’m not mad because she didn’t listen to me”, Regina said, before waving her hand at the still standing tower. “I’m mad because... look at all this potential inside of her, and she’s been wasting it!”

     Emma blinked and looked back at Regina.

     “Yeah, maybe you’re right”, she admitted. “This... this felt... good, in a way.”

     “That was not something either of us would have been able to do, by the way”, the boy admitted, pointing at himself and his companion. “At least not me.”

     “Well, I think we’re done here”, Regina said and waved her hands again, sending them all back to her vault. Emma still looked dumbfounded, but the boy next to her was chatting away about how brilliant she had been.

     “You didn’t think she could do it, did you?”

     Regina spun around and found the girl still standing there.

     “Of course I did”, she answered. The girl looked amused.

     “I saw the look on your face when she fell”, she pointed out. “You thought she’d been unable to do it and you blamed yourself for it. I did too; I thought you’d killed her.”

     “Well, look who was right”, Regina remarked. For some reason the girl smiled even wider at that.

     “Yeah”, she said, “you definitely proved me and Chris wrong and if you can do that, I don’t see a reason why you can’t do it to everyone else. Including Zelena.”

     Regina’s eyes widened in surprise.

     “Why would you say that?”

     “Because I think maybe you need to believe it yourself”, the girl answered. “Believe that you can overcome whatever darkness there’s been in your past, that you can prove people wrong, because from what I saw today you clearly can.”

     She turned to walk out of the vault and up the stairs.

     “What’s your name?” Regina asked, drawing her attention again. “I never asked, did I? It’s awfully rude of me.”

     The girl smiled.

     “Arianne.”


	40. Wave of a Blue Tail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _7 months prior_  
>  Blackbeard's docks, the Enchanted Forest

They had used the darkness to sneak through the barracks surrounding the small dock, ending in them now crouching down behind a set of barrels next to the ship they had come for; the _Jolly Roger_. Hook could hardly contain his excitement.

     “Up close she’s even more beautiful than I remember”, he remarked. “Don’t worry, my dear; you’ll soon be back in my loving arms.”

     “You do realize you’re talking to a boat?” Filipi pointed out. Wolfgang scoffed at the insulted look Hook shot her way.

     “You have your love, I have mine”, the pirate said.

     “What makes you think I have a love?” Filipi asked.

     “Well, don’t everyone?”

     “Alright, shut up”, Wolfgang said, smiling amusedly. “One more comment like that and I might give away our position by bursting out laughing.”

     “How are we going to get onboard, Captain?” Smee asked, eyeing the ship and all the men surrounding it. “Blackbeard’s crew outnumbers us.”

     “Well, perhaps, but we’ve got something he has not”, Hook said with a grin, before looking at Wolfgang. He grinned back.

     “You’re not using magic to get onboard”, Filipi warned.

     “Who says I am?” Wolfgang asked, before sneaking out from behind the barrels. There was one guard patrolling end of the gangway and, coincidentally, that man now had his back turned towards them. Wolfgang walked as close as he could before giving a low whistle. The man immediately spun around and was met, in the face, by Hook’s hook, which Wolfgang had been given for this exact situation. The guard tumbled unceremoniously to the ground. Hook grinned as he stepped up to him and reinserted his hook in its rightful place, on his left arm, before crossing the gangway.

     “Stand on attention, mates!” he called while drawing his cutlass. “Now boarding the ship; the rightful captain of the _Jolly Roger_.”

     The pirates onboard had fallen silent, staring at the scene. Wolfgang was sure it must look very strange; one man that certainly looked like a pirate walking onboard, followed by a red-haired woman who looked quite terrified, a fat man in a red cap and two people holding sticks in their hands. Adrenaline coursed through him as he realized it might get to a fight. Hook, or Killian Jones, had told him earlier (while giving him the hook) that he needed to defeat Blackbeard on his own in order to gain the crew’s trust, but if Blackbeard did not show or if he managed to defeat Hook, then there was no other way for the others but to fight. Wolfgang was definitely prepared for that.

     “Now”, Hook said and stepped off the gangway, “if the coward who tried stealing her from me would kindly show his face, I’ll give him the punishment he deserves.”

     Ariel, who had been walking first behind Hook and was now standing at the edge of the gangway, inhaled sharply as a man walked up from beneath the deck. Wolfgang looked past her, wand at the ready, and looked straight into the dark eyes of another pirate. To his amusement this one looked much more like how Captain Hook was portrayed in the old _Disney_ -film; a long red coat, a three-cornered hat, a short forked beard and dark, long, curly hair. In fact he had to fight the urge to laugh at the irony of it and, when glancing at Filipi, he could see her doing the same.

     “Gladly”, the pirate now said, indirectly admitting he was the notorious Blackbeard. Hook turned towards him with a carefree smile at the ready, while Blackbeard drew his cutlass.

     “But it’s not me who’ll be punished”, the notorious pirate said. Hook grinned and walked up to circle with the other pirate, as casually as if he was out on a morning stroll and was greeting an old friend.

     “You want your ship back?” Blackbeard now asked. “Then take it.”

     Their blades crossed for the first time, clinking against each other a couple of times before they continued to circle each other. Blackbeard laughed a rough laugh. Ariel suddenly moved forward and, followed by Smee, disappeared down another set of stairs to look for Prince Eric, who the mermaid had found out was Blackbeard’s prisoner.

     The pirates crossed blades again and now the crew started to cheer at the duel. Wolfgang felt his grip around his wand tightening; Blackbeard might be older than Hook, but he was definitely a highly skilled swordsman. Hook seemed to have noticed the same.

     In a flurry of motions Blackbeard sent the one-handed man backwards. During this pause he drew a second blade from his belt. As Hook got up and noticed this he smiled and launched another attack.

     “Does he really think he can win?” Filipi hissed in Wolfgang’s ear.

     “I have no idea”, Wolfgang responded, “but I think we should think so.”

     Blackbeard’s elbow suddenly hit Hook in the face and Wolfgang grimaced as he heard the cracking sound of a nose breaking. The hit both put Hook off-balance and caused him to drop his cutlass, something that Blackbeard immediately used to his advantage, pushing the ship’s former captain back against the main mast.

     “I was afraid you weren’t going to show up”, Blackbeard said. “Word on the waterways is Captain Hook had gone soft.”

     “The only thing soft will be your guts spilling on this deck”, Hook growled, before grabbing onto one of the ropes securing the back sail, which pulled him up into the air and away from Blackbeard. As he then released the rope the sail dropped in front of the other pirates, resulting in a chorus of disappointed grunts.

     “I’d never give up the _Jolly Roger_ without a fight”, Hook said while picking up his cutlass. Blackbeard grinned and moved forward, resulting in their blades clashing in another violent dance at the centre of the deck. It led them closer and closer to the gangway and Wolfgang pushed Filipi somewhat backwards in order to make sure they both avoided the swinging blades.

     “You think you know the ship?” Hook asked while keeping Blackbeard’s blade locked against his own. Blackbeard grinned again and licked his lips.

     “Oh, every inch of her. I assure you.”

     “If that was the case”, Hook said and pushed away, “you’d know not to step there!”

     He sent his blade down towards his opponent’s feet and Blackbeard took a step to his right, trampling right through a rotten plank and sticking. He let out a shout of pain while Hook walked up to him, grinning.

     “Oh, I’ve been meaning to fix that”, Hook said while he pointed the blade at his opponents throat. Wolfgang chuckled and stepped off the gangway to stand on the ship itself.

     “Nicely done”, he said.

     “It’s not over yet”, Hook remarked, his gaze fixed on Blackbeard. The other pirate was leaning against the rail in order to keep himself somewhat upright.

     “Finish it!” Blackbeard roared.

     “Fancy a shave, do we?” Wolfgang asked, earning him a glare from the defeated man. Hook grinned.

     “Well, in that case, I’d be happy to oblige.”

     He raised his cutlass and moved to strike.

     “Wait!”

     The shout from Ariel drew everyone’s attention. She and Smee had returned from below deck and the mermaid-turned-human looked absolutely devastated.

     “Eric’s not onboard”, she said. “You have to get him to tell you where he is.”

     Hook looked down at Blackbeard and moved his blade to his throat once more.

     “You heard the lady”, he said. “Where is he?”

     “So that’s what this was?” Blackbeard said, a new grin appearing on his face. “A rescue mission for some wench? Ha! They were right about you, Hook; you have gone soft.”

     “I can either make this painful or quite painful”, Hook growled. “Now answer!”

     “I have him stashed, safe and sound, on a deserted island”, Blackbeard casually responded. “Only I know where. I was planning to ransom him when the time was right.”

     “Whatever it is, I’ll pay it”, Ariel urged.

     “Money’s not what I’m after anymore”, Blackbeard huffed.

     “Then what is it that you want?” Filipi asked. Blackbeard licked his lips before smiling at Hook.

     “The satisfaction”, he said, “of proving Captain Hook is no longer a pirate.”

     Hook raised a questioning eyebrow at him and smiled amusedly.

     “And how are you going to prove that?”

     “By giving you a choice”, Blackbeard responded and pushed the blade pointed at his throat aside. “Surrender the _Jolly Roger_ to me and I’ll tell you where I’m holding her prince. Or refuse and he dies along with me.”

     Hook took a step back, his eyes ablaze with anger.

     “Is there some sort of spell you can use?” he said.

     “Not one I’m capable of using”, Wolfgang responded. “Neither is Filipi; it’s far too advanced and takes years and years of training.”

     Hook pursed his lips with determination.

     “Then that settles it”, he said. “Smee, hold her back.”

     “What...” Ariel begun before Smee grabbed her arms. Hook, meanwhile, pulled Blackbeard out of the hole.

     “Bind him”, he ordered, glaring at Wolfgang. “Now!”

     “ _Incarcerous_ ”, Wolfgang responded, conjuring ropes that immediately bound and gagged Blackbeard.

     “Wolf, what the hell are you doing?” Filipi exclaimed.

     “He wouldn’t have told us where to go even if Hook surrendered the _Jolly Roger_ ”, Wolfgang responded.

     “Well, it was worth a try!” Filipi shouted, pointing her wand at Smee. “Let...”

     “ _Flipendo_!”

     With a flick of his wand Filipi was sent back, across the gangway and crashing into a set of barrels.

     “I said that he should walk the plank”, Hook said and raised the sail, allowing the rest of the crew to watch, “and that is exactly what he shall do.”

     He pulled Blackbeard up off the floor and poked him in the back with his cutlass, forcing him out on the plank. Wolfgang frowned when he heard the bubbling sound coming from below and looked over the rail, seeing the water bustling with life. No wonder Blackbeard had built his docks here; the waters were filled with crocodiles. Perfect for disposing of an unsuspecting enemy.

     “You can’t do this!” Ariel called. “We had an agreement! You promised me that you would help find Eric. Please!”

     Hook maintained his determined look as he kept forcing Blackbeard further and further out on the plank.

     “I know that you are a good man”, Ariel continued, “and I know that man is still in there somewhere; it’s not too late to do the right thing! Isn’t true love more important than a few planks of wood and a sail?”

     Hook cast a glare at her over his shoulder.

     “She might just be a few planks and a sail, but she’s mine”, he said. “She’s all I need. Love brings nothing but wasted years and endless torment; I’m doing you a favour.”

     He then used his sword to cut a shallow wound in Blackbeard’s left arm.

     “A little something to whet the appetite of our razor-toothed friends below”, he hissed, before he pushed Blackbeard off the plank.

     “No!” Ariel yelled.

     “Enjoy the feast, boys!” Hook called as the crocodiles gathered to kill the man that had just been sent into their home. He then turned towards the crew again.

     “The _Jolly Roger_ is mine!” he bellowed. “Any man willing to swear an oath to me shall be given quarter. Those who don’t; you’re welcome to follow your former captain.”

     Blackbeard’s crew knew better than to argue and instead cheered. At this Hook sheathed his cutlass and walked off the plank, back onto the deck.

     “You may release her, Mr Smee.”

     Once Ariel was free she immediately slapped Hook hard across the cheek.

     “I was wrong about you, Captain”, she spat out. “You’re selfish and you’re heartless and that is what will bring you wasted years and endless torment. I feel sorry for you. You’ll never be happy.”

     She then strode up onto the plank.

     “Where do you think you’re going?” Wolfgang asked. Ariel turned towards them again.

     “Eric’s still out there”, she responded, “and whatever it takes I will find him. You, however, should probably spend some time thinking about what you just did to your friend.”

     With that she dove gracefully into the water, turning back into a mermaid and flicking her blue tail at them before swimming away.

     “You should probably go as well”, Hook remarked and walked up to stand next to Wolfgang, the anger having seeped from his veins. Wolfgang looked over at where Filipi lay, unconscious, on land.

     “I can’t”, he sighed. “She and the others will never let me back now; I used magic against them. We’re not supposed to do that against one another.”

     “Then my offer still stands”, Hook said. Wolfgang looked away from the shore and out at the open sea. The salty breeze tickled his nose.

     “I would gladly accept that, Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, that happened...


	41. Black Tires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Present time_  
>  Storybrooke, Maine
> 
> In which David comes up with a good idea...

There were two things that had irked David Nolan during the whole day.

     One revolved around what Emma had told them that morning, before she left to see Regina. He and Mary Margaret had offered to look after Henry during her training, but she had refused and instead opted to allow Hook to take the boy. The reason; Henry thought that they were boring.

     Of course the boy did not know who they really were; he did not remember all of the “cool” things he had discovered about them during the previous curse. He did not know that they were his grandparents and definitely did not know that they had once been Snow White and Prince Charming back in the Enchanted Forest. To him they were the Sheriff of a boring town and a pregnant woman who had scared him with various diseases that newborn children could get during birth. All in all; boring.

     When Ariel turned up and David had realized that Hook might be the only one to help her he had immediately plotted out a plan to spend time with Henry. When the pirate and the mermaid, and Wolfgang, had vanished from _Granny’s Diner_ he had also sent away Indira, Filipi and Tessa, saying that he and Mary Margaret could manage on their own. He had then suggested, to Henry, that he teach him how to drive a car.

     “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Mary Margaret asked when they walked to where his truck was parked. Henry had, excitedly, run ahead and was already sitting behind the steering wheel.

     “You said you wanted to take action”, David remarked, referring to their previous conversation on the beach before meeting Ariel, “so we’re taking action.”

     “But...”

     “Mary Margaret”, he said and stopped, looking at her with a smile, “our grandson would rather spend time with a pirate than us, but not after today.”

     “It’s dangerous!” Mary Margaret hissed. “Not to mention illegal!”

     David smirked.

     “It couldn’t be safer, and as far as legality; I’m the sheriff!”

     He gave her a kiss on the cheek before moving to jump in next to Henry. In the corner of his eye he saw Mary Margaret sigh and move out of the way. Still grinning he closed the passenger door behind him, meeting the gaze of an excited Henry.

     “So, are you sure this is a good idea?” the boy asked.

     “Well, if Killian can teach you how to steal a boat, I can teach you how to drive”, David responded.

     “Technically, we borrowed it”, Henry pointed out. David fought the urge to roll his eyes at the pirate’s way of defining _stealing_ and _borrowing_.

     “Well”, he said and turned the key, starting the engine, “what do you say we see how you can handle a land vessel?”

     Henry’s face split up in a wide grin and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. The boy’s excitement caused David to smile as well. Slowly the car started to roll forward before Henry’s foot slammed on the break, causing both of them to jolt forward.

     “Sorry, wrong pedal”, Henry excused himself.

     “Don’t worry”, David said, smiling reassuringly. “Okay, steady now.”

     The car started to move forward again, going down the road at a good pace. David grinned.

     “There you go”, he said. Henry’s eyes, though filled with concentration, also sparkled with excitement.

     They then took a right turn out onto Main Street and Henry’s foot pushed the gas pedal further down, causing the tires to screech as they turned. The speed also caused the narrow turn to be an impossibility and they ended up in the opposite file.

     “Watch out!” David yelled and instinctively reached over to grab the wheel, narrowly avoiding a collision with another car. This movement, however, sent the car flying up on the sideway on the right side of the road, knocking over a mail box as they went and sending David jolting sideways. Henry gasped and tried to steer back onto the road again while David tried to get back into position.

     When he got up they were out of harm’s way, but his eyes stuck on a familiar figure they now passed. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open, staring at the truck as it passed, along with her friends. He felt as if he could not breathe and his mind was racing, going over what had happened the last time they had talked.

     That was the second thing that had irked him throughout this day and also through the previous night; the kiss he had shared with Rachel back on the trail through the forest.

* * *

It had seemed like a good idea; getting out of the hospital and showing Ella the town they were in. True, there was not much to see, but it did give them something else to think about besides the threat of the Wicked Witch and Jade’s habit of constantly reminding them of it. The rain had moved away as the afternoon dragged on and the temperature had been rising, so Doctor Whale had given the former coma-patient permission to take a walk from the hospital to _Granny’s_ and back.

     They had walked half-way down Main Street when the sound of screeching tires had caused them to stop. The next moment David Nolan’s truck had turned around a narrow corner at a speed that caused it to end up in the opposite file, narrowly missing a collision with another car before steering up not far in front of them and hitting a mail box before getting back on track.

     “Why is he driving like that?” Miranda said as it passed the group.

     “If by he you mean David, he’s not the one driving”, Toby remarked. “Henry is.”

     “Henry?” Ella asked, frowning. “You said he was a young boy...”

     “Yes, he’s twelve or something like that”, Toby answered. “Why is David letting him drive his truck?”

     “Is Mary Margaret about to give birth?” Miranda asked.

     “I don’t think so”, Rachel responded, pointing at the woman in question who stood close to the failed turn. She looked pale and her gloved hands were covering her mouth in a shocked expression.

     “Mary Margaret!” Rachel called and hurried towards her. The woman blinked once, twice, before letting go of the car with her gaze.

     “You weren’t hurt, were you?” she immediately asked.

     “No, we’re fine”, Miranda assured her, “but can you tell us what’s going on?”

     “Yes, why is Henry driving David’s truck?” Toby filled in. “That’s not even legal!”

     “I tried to tell him that”, Mary Margaret said, before giving a slight yelp as the car swayed up on the sidewalk again.

     “Isn’t there a way to stop them?” Ella asked. “A spell or...”

     “Henry doesn’t know about magic”, Mary Margaret responded. “Well, he does, or he did, but his memories of that are gone.”

     “Okay, screw magic; we have to find a way to stop that truck”, Rachel said. “So far they’ve only knocked over a mail box but soon someone could actually get hurt!”

     “Please, do tell me how we can stop a careening car driven by a boy of about twelve years who has no idea what he’s doing _without_ magic”, Toby exclaimed.

     “I don’t know”, Rachel responded, running her hand through her hair. “You tell me.”

     “We could place obstacles on the road”, Miranda suggested. “They’d have to lower the speed to pass them safely.”

     “If the driver knew what he was doing then yes; that would work”, Toby pointed out.

     “Why did they even decide to do this?” Ella asked. Mary Margaret gasped as the car they were monitoring made a sudden U-turn, ending up in the opposite file and moving back towards them.

     “Henry thought that we were boring and David wanted to prove him wrong”, she eventually managed to respond.

     “By placing him behind the steering wheel of a truck and letting him destroy the town?” Toby asked. “Why couldn’t you have done something safer, like visiting the library?”

     “After spending time with Hook I don’t think he’d find the library as exciting as we do”, Rachel pointed out. Toby looked offended at the mere thought.

     “Flat tire”, Ella suddenly said.

     “What?” the four others asked, turning towards her.

     “We can use magic to cause a flat tire”, Ella explained. “There won’t be a flash of light to hint at magic; the tire will simply deflate itself.”

     “You seriously know a spell for causing a flat tire?” Miranda asked in surprise.

     “Well, I know how to deflate something, like Marge Dursley”, Ella answered. “It should work on a tire as well.”

     As the truck approached again she knelt down as if to tie her shoelaces behind one of the parked cars next to the road, but in fact she was leaning down so that she could see beneath it. When the car appeared in front of them she muttered something twice and flicked her wand, which had been concealed inside her sleeve. A moment later the truck steered to the side and jolted to a halt as Henry pushed the break and the group on the sidewalk could see David pulling the handbrake. The two of them then stepped out of the vehicle, grinning like madmen.

     “What did I tell you?” David said as they came over to the group. “Safe and sound. He even caused two flat tires on his first run.”


End file.
